


War in Remnant

by Faithless



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Romance, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-27
Updated: 2014-05-09
Packaged: 2018-01-10 05:29:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 137,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1155664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faithless/pseuds/Faithless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Huntsman and Huntresses are supposed to fight monsters, not wars. But sometimes, life doesn't play out the way it's supposed to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Supernova

Yang Xiao Long charged down Beacon Academy's hallways, Ember Celica deployed and loaded. Blake followed a short distance behind her, carrying an unconscious, limp Ruby Rose in her arms with freshly dried blood caking the hair on the left side of her head and face. Weiss Schnee brought up the rear of team RWBY, Myrtenaster drawn and held ready at her side. And all around them sporadic gunfire and explosions could be heard in and around Beacon. Yang reached an intersection, and checked around the corners, making sure their path is was clear from the soldiers that have invaded Beacon. Waiting for the rest of her team to catch up gave Yang a brief, welcome chance to lean back against the wall and catch her breath. Moments later Blake and Weiss stopped at her side, also resting their backs up against the wall. Yang looked down at her little sister, then back up at the faunus, her lover of nearly two years, who was carrying her. "Do you need me to carry her, give your arms a break?" Yang asked softly, her voice laced with concern for both her sister and her lover.

Blake shook her head and softly replied, her normally calm voice trembling ever so slightly. "I can keep going. Gambol Shroud is broken now anyways. It'll be better if you two can fight while I carry Ruby." Looking back towards Weiss, whose eyes were scanning the direction they came from to make sure no unwanted company were following behind them, she continued "How're your dust supplies, Weiss?"

Weiss, satisfied that there were no pursuers, turned back to face her teammates while glancing down at her weapon and spinning the revolving chambers to inspect her weapon. "I'm almost out," she sighed. "I have enough for maybe one, maybe two, more uses, if we're lucky." Staring at her weapon for a few more seconds, she finally let her arm drop down to her side, a look of deep exhaustion on her formerly white face, now splattered with dirt and grime. "What is happening? This morning we were eating breakfast as usual then…" she trailed off. She didn't need to finish. They all knew what happened next.

"Yang shook her head, her wild mane of hair rippling from the movement. "I don't know exactly what's happening, but I know that the airships that are getting us out of here are out behind the school. Everyone rested up?" Her conscious team members nodded in confirmation. "Okay. Let's keep moving then, I don't want to fight anymore soldiers." The other nodded a second time. The soldiers were nowhere near as powerful as the huntsman and huntresses of Beacon, but there were so many. And a single mistake could leave you exposed to the hail of bullets, explosives, and blades that these soldiers possessed.

Seeing the rest of her team readied up, Yang rounded the corner at a brisk jog towards their objective. Yang could see the sunset out of the large windows to her left, the sky painted a fiery red, with hints of yellow, but couldn't appreciate its beauty, because all the sunset meant to her right now was that they were running out of time to reach the land pads at the back of the school before the last ships could take off. Assuming the soldiers hadn't found their way back there yet and driven off or destroyed the ships. She shook her head again to clear her thoughts. "They HAVE to still be there." She whispered to herself. She had to get Ruby to safety, no matter what it took. That's why she stepped up to lead her team after Ruby went down, even though she didn't think she was the best for the job- because if it was for Ruby, she WOULD be the best, and nothing would stop her.

From behind she heard Weiss raise her voice to say "Hey, we should pick up the pace, I think I can hear something behind us."

Blake turned her head and nodded. "I agree, you don't have to slow down for me Ya-" Her agreement was cut off as the shockwave of an explosion rounded the next intersection, and team RWBY skidded to a stop a good distance away, waiting to see if they would need to fight, or if it was just a stray explosive. Weiss and Yang both shifted to stand in front of Blake and her unconscious luggage and then began inching forward towards the source of the explosion, their stance wary.

"Nooo! Ren!" a familiar voice screamed from around the corner. Team RWBY, recognizing the voice, immediately began running to the source of the voice. As they rounded the corner, they saw team JNPR lying on the ground through a haze of smoke and debris drifting around through the air. "Ren! Come, on we have to keep going! Ren!" As the smoke cleared, Yang saw Nora sitting next to the collapsed ceiling, hunched over something that Yang couldn't quite see, but the sinking feeling in her stomach told her she knew what she was about to see as she approached Nora's crouching body. She could see Jaune and Pyrrha off to the side with their shields held together over their heads, the once pristine metal scorched from trying to hold back the force of the explosion for their teammates.

"Nora!" Yang exclaimed, as she ran up to the panicking Nora. She saw Jaune and Pyrrha stagger to their feet, climbing out from under the rubble that had fallen around them, slightly disoriented from the force of the explosion and falling rubble. Weiss began looking them over making sure they were unharmed, but they waved her off, saying they would be fine in just a moment. "Nora, are you hurt?" Yang asked, slowing to a stop behind her. "Nora?"

"Ren! Wake up! Come on, we're almost there! Wake up!" Nora pleaded, tears streaming down her face. She turned to Yang, sobbing. "Yang! You have to help me wake up Ren! I can't wake him up! He's… too sleepy!" Yang went down to her knees to look at Nora and Ren, and her expression immediately softened and clouded over with sadness.

"Nora... " Yang began softly. "Ren's not sleeping. I'm sorry." The body lying in front of Nora was mangled and crushed, the lower half of Ren's body trapped under the rubble of the collapsed ceiling, and what was left of his jacket was soaked through with blood. His face, strangely enough, was fairly clean, and looked peaceful, as if he really was just sleeping. Nora was holding his upper body against her, resting his head in the nook of her shoulder and neck. "Nora, please, we have to keep moving." Yang felt terrible leaving their good friend here, but there wasn't anything they could do for him, and they were running out of time. Yang turned to Jaune and Pyrrha, and shook her head mournfully. "What happened?"

Jaune answered while Pyrrha walked up beside Nora and tried to pry her away from Ren, gently speaking to her while Nora shook her head in denial, tears still pouring down her cheeks, leaving clean trails through the stains on her face. "We were trying to get to the landing pads through the north tower, but we found it collapsed and impassable. We backtracked here, fighting our way through these soldiers. We thought we lost them, but a squad of them came up behind us and fired some rockets. We," he gestured towards Pyrrha, "tried to deflect the blast from Nora and Ren with our shields, but the explosion collapsed the entire ceiling in the hallway. Last thing I saw was Ren diving to push Nora out of the way while the ceiling fell on us. Our shields kept us mostly safe, and Nora fell behind us from Ren's push. But Ren…" he looked at his teammate.

Yang could tell that losing Ren was taking its toll on team Jaune. After all, he was their leader, and responsible for his team's safety. Not only that, but Ren had, surprisingly, been Jaune's best friend once they had become familiar with each other, the male companionship that they lacked in their respective partners was welcome. Ren even volunteered to assist in training Jaune when Pyrrha was busy or tired, and now the one that had turned Jaune into a deadly hand to hand combatant was lying under a pile of stone and metal, dead in a way no one saw coming.

"They were getting married this winter vacation, too." Blake commented, the sadness and trembling in her voice becoming more pronounced upon seeing the scene in front of them. Yang's shoulders sagged, having forgotten about their upcoming wedding amidst the events of the day. Poor Nora, she couldn't imagine losing Blake like that.

Pyrrha had finally managed to grab Nora's hand and lift her up by the arm, while Nora complied, her eyes still frantic and looking at Ren's motionless body. Nora resisted slightly as they walked back towards the rest of their teammates and friends, like a puppy trying to pull against a leash, trying to return to the comfort of a familiar blanket, but she followed Pyrrha nonetheless. Yang had to turn away to look at someone else, anyone else, watching Nora was too painful for her right now. She took to looking at Ruby, making sure she was still breathing and that the wound on her head hadn't reopened. As she tended to Ruby, she heard Weiss open her mouth to try to say something to comfort team JNPR, but closing it again, realizing that words wouldn't help right now. That, and she couldn't come up with the words to say.

"Let's take a moment to rest up, everyone. What happened to Ruby?" Jaune asked seeing Yang fussing over her. He moved in to help, but stayed a few steps back, recognizing the look in Yang's eyes, a look that promised pain to anyone who got between her and Ruby, regardless of how good of friends Jaune and Ruby were.

Yang explained while she moved from examining Ruby to examining Blake. "We were holding the front lines at the front of the school with Professor Port, team CRDL, and team SBLE. We were doing fine, but all of a sudden something happened. I didn't see what happened, but Professor Port went down and then our lines started collapsing. After that we tried to set up another line somewhere else in Beacon, but by then the damage was done and we had to retreat. Ruby got hurt somehow in the initial line break, and a squad of soldiers broke Blake's Gambol Shroud as she defended me while I was carrying her. We ran when we got word of the evacuation, and now we're here." Satisfied that Blake had no injuries she was hiding from her, Yang turned to Jaune again "Where were you guys at?"

Jaune gestured back towards the opposing end of Beacon. "The auditorium. Nora and," Jaune paused for a moment, "Ren were guarding it while Professor Peach treated the wounded. Me and Pyrrha were escorting first years and the wounded that needed to be evacuated to the landing pads."

When Jaune paused, Pyrrha continued their story. "After that was finished we went to join the front lines with you guys, but we couldn't fight our way there." She sighed, adding, "If the front lines collapsed, I suppose that makes sense why we couldn't fight our way there. You guys were doing so well; I can't understand why you guys had to fall back, even if Professor Port fell."

Yang shrugged, because she hadn't known about the collapse until it started happening around her team, but Weiss cut in here. "It was team CRDL." Everyone looked at her, confused.

"What about CRDL?" Blake asked hesitantly.

Yang, with her already low opinion of Cardin and his team already jumped to a conclusion. "They betrayed us?" She growled, her eyes shifting to red and the temperature of the air around her jumping up several degrees.

Weiss waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing quite so devious as that. They got scared and bolted after they started getting hurt during their rotation. Port tried to cover the gap and reform the line, but the soldiers took advantage of the gap and broke the line. That's when Port fell." She glanced over at Yang, before looking away uncomfortably. "… I think I saw team SBLE fall too, Yang. I'm sorry." Weiss knew that Yang was good friends with the boys of SBLE, and didn't want to be the one to break the news to her.

Yang's already unpleasant mood was made even worse at hearing this. "Damn it!" She slammed her hand against the wall, cracking the stone. After slowing her breathing, she turned back to those gathered around her. "We've rested long enough. We're running out of light, and we need to get out of here. Let's move." She looked at Pyrrha and her charge Nora, who was still looking back at Ren's body. "You got her?"

Pyrrha nodded. "I think we'll have to keep a hold on her. If we give her the chance, she'll go back to Ren. She's…" Pyrrha left it unsaid. Broken. Something had snapped inside Nora, and they didn't have time to wait for it to heal. And wounds of the heart took a long time to heal.

Jaune stepped up. "I'll take her. You're in a better condition to fight than me right now anyways Pyrrha." Pyrrha nodded in appreciation, letting Jaune grab Nora's hand from her. Pyrrha put her hand on her boyfriend's cheek for just a second, a touch of reassurance, before checking her weapon for ammo and grimacing at her empty chambers. Pyrrha just sighed and kept jogging ahead of them alongside Yang, who had gone ahead.

With their short rest, RWBY and JNPR made quick progress towards the landing pads, with yang and Pyrrha leading the charge, Jaune and Blake with their respective team members, and Weiss again holding the rear. "There!" Yang called out. "The evac pads!"

"Yang! Soldiers incoming behind us!" Weiss yelled from behind. "I can buy us some time, keep going!" Weiss stopped and pivoted, twirling her rapier and stabbing into the ground under the gate behind them. She activated her rapier, ejecting her last remaining dust as a spiky wall of ice before following the rest of her fleeing comrades.

Yang could see two airships strafing back and forth over the landing pads, firing their chain guns at a squad of soldiers, cutting them down, but not before a rocket fired by a soldier takes out an engine of the lower flying airship, sending it crashing down into the cliff in a ball of flames. She waves her hands, trying to catch the attention of the last remaining airship, and her efforts are rewarded when the pilot sees her and swings down nimbly to the landing pad, side doors opening, waiting for its passengers. The pilot speaks to them over a set of external speakers on the outside of the cockpit. "Get on! Beacon is about to get cut off, we gotta move!"

Yang paused by door and waved the rest of her friends forward, gesturing with urgency. Blake leaps in with Ruby in her arms, placing Ruby in a seat and strapping her in, making sure she's secure, before turning around and pulling Nora out of Jaune's hands an into the airship. "Where's Ren? Aren't we going to wait for Ren before we go?" Blake tried to appease her as she strapped the empty eyed girl in, telling her that everything was going to be okay; Nora just needed to stay still. Nora stopped fidgeting and just stared and the floor of the airship.

Pyrrha jumped in next, with Weiss close behind her. As Jaune leaped in though, his left leg suddenly collapsed under him, spraying blood. Jaune grunted in pain, falling to the floor holding his leg. Yang spun around just in time to deflect the next bullets with her gauntlets, realizing that Jaune had taken a shot from behind to the leg. "Go go go!" She yelled to the pilot, leaping into the airship and bracing against the side. Pyrrha had lifted Jaune and strapped him into a chair, leaving herself, Yang, Weiss, and Blake standing.

"Copy that, lifting off." The pilot announced. Then, "We've got an enemy gunship coming up on us! Brace yourselves!" Moments after this warning, an explosion rocked their gunship, staggering its occupants and throwing Blake against the opposite, closed door with enough force the leave a large dent in the metal frame.

"Blake!" Yang cried, watching her girlfriend fall limp to the floor. "No!" she reached over to grab Blake, but Weiss reached the faunus before her.

"I think she's okay? Her ribs look broken, but she's still breathing." Weiss reported after a quick inspection. Yang kneeled down next to them as another explosion shook the hull of the ship.

"We're taking too much fire from their rockets! We aren't going to make it!" The pilot reported while trying to evade the salvos of rocket being fired from the opposing gunship.

Yang looked down at her unconscious lover's face, then bent over and kissed Blake on the forehead and whispered, "I'm sorry Blake. I love you." Then she turned to look at her baby sister, still unconscious in the seat Blake strapped her in. "I'll keep you safe baby sister. I love you." Yang Gave her sister a quick hug, then turned to Weiss. "Keep them safe, Snow Angel." Yang grinned, giving Weiss a quick clap on the shoulder.

"Wait, Yang! What are you doing!" Weiss shouted in surprise, as she watched Yang work her way past Pyrrha to the cockpit.

Yang tapped the pilot on the shoulder. "When I tell you, hard turn left, got it? Don't come back for me." Ignoring the pilot's protests, she jumped back into the cabin.

A certain clarity encompassed Yang's mind, and she focused on the gunship though the front window of their ship. She waited. Pyrrha and Weiss were trying to talk to her, but she wasn't listening. She waited. She saw the gunship fire it's salvo, and yelled her signal to the pilot. "Now!" the pilot, however reluctant he was, obeyed her command, and banked hard left, exposing the open door of their airship to the rockets, but also providing Yang with a burst of momentum she used to leap out of the gunship towards the rockets. "Get them out of here! Don't come back!" She yelled, and grinned and she heard the pilot swearing at her actions, but listening regardless, and flying off. She thought she heard Weiss yelling after her, but she was committed now, and it was far too late to turn back.

The rockets began to track and turn towards the gunship, but before they could make any progress towards the fleeing airship Yang landed on the foremost rocket, punching it downwards to maintain her height and momentum, flipping off of it and landing on the next one, jumping off and leaping from rocket to rocket, ever closer to the gunship. The gunship finally caught sight of Yang, and attempted to backpedal away from the angry huntress, but they were too late. Yang crashed down onto the cockpit, smashing her fist into the glass over and over, her other hand gripping the hull. After only moments, her angered powered strength shattered the cockpit, and smashed the pilot's controls, sending the airship spiraling out of control back towards the landing pads Yang had just left.

Eventually the force of the spin was too much for Yang, and she was thrown off the falling gunship towards the ground, impacting hard enough to feel some bones crack. As she lay on the ground, seconds later she heard the gunship crash nearby, the heat from its explosion a comfort to Yang. She groaned and staggered to her feet, and grinned at the wreck of the gunship that she had just punched out of commission. "Nailed it." She looked around her, and realized that she wasn't in the best position.

The soldiers had finally found their way to the landing pads, and were staring at Yang, weapons at the ready. She looked at the squads in front of her, getting a close look at them for the first time in the entire day. She saw heavily armored soldiers in green-tinted plate armor with a variety of close combat weapons and shields, along with lightly armored soldiers in green-tinted combat uniforms carrying a variety of firearms. Yang smashed her fists together, emitting a burst of flame and her eyes shifting from the calm lilac they normally were to a blazing red. "What, you guys want some?!" And Yang charged into the mob in front of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weiss looked back in shock in horror as her teammate and friend leapt out of the airship at the gunship. "No! Yang! No!"

"Weiss! Calm down!" Pyrrha grabbed onto Weiss, who was hanging out of the airship looking at her ever shrinking friend as they retreated to safety.

"No! We can't leave her behind! She's invincible, she has to be here, she can't be left behind!" Weiss was panicking. "What will I tell Ruby? What will I tell Blake? I don't... I don't know what to do. I have to bring her back. I have to!" Weiss cried, collapsing into Pyrrha's arms.

Pyrrha had no words, for what could she say? Yang made her decision? It's too late now? None of it would help, so she just held Weiss as she cried into her shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yang was lying on her back, staring at the evening sky. How had she gotten here? She could feel heat coming from somewhere to her left, as if someone had started a bonfire nearby. And what was she lying in? it felt warm, and wet. She tried to lift her head to look, but it was too much effort, and she just relaxed back into her previous position. She heard footsteps approaching from her right. She smiled. It must be Ruby, coming to tell her off for slacking off at school. A shadow fell over her, and she looked towards the figure, realizing it was far too tall to be her adorable baby sister.

It was a uniformed man, wearing a familiar green-tinted uniform. Ah. Something clicked back into place in her head, and she remembered. She wasn't slacking off, staring at the sky. She was dying. Staring at the sky. Small difference. The figure looked down at her, examining her, judging her. "You fight well, girl." He grunted.

Yang smiled, and coughed out a pained reply. "Damn straight I do." Her memory was clearing. She had fought the soldiers around her. She had killed a lot of them. They had hurt her. Now I get why I can't move. "The name's Yang Xiao Long, the girl who burns like the sun. Don't you forget it."

He continued staring at her unblinkingly. "Yang Xiao Long." He said the name slowly, testing it, committing it to memory. "I will not forget the huntress who slaughtered dozens-

"Try hundreds." Yang interrupted.

"- of my men." He continued, unfazed.

"To be fair, you attacked us first." It was taking a lot of effort to speak, Yang could feel the life slowly slipping from her as she coughed out a response.

"True. Orders are orders though. I did not want to attack a school of children." He paused, and crouched down next to her, allowing Yang to get a closer look at the man above her. Leathery, sun-tanned, scarred skin with a graying, peppered hair. Very powerful looking, very rough. Not quite Yang's type, she noted to herself. "I am General Shamrock Napier. I can offer you a medic, Yang Xiao Long. I admire your skill. You could join us."

Yang grinned a bloody grin. "Nah. I know I'm done for." She coughed up a mouthful of blood. "So. Are your soldiers back inside the school?" She said conversationally. Well, as conversationally as she could, given the coughing and gasping.

General Napier stood up, curious about the young girl who would chat herself to her death. "They are. You and your comrades did a lot of damage to my men. They are resting and recuperating inside."

"Good, good."

"Might I ask why?" He inquired.

"Because… well, do you know what happens when a sun dies, General?" she coughed out, her grin getting wider.

He began to slowly back away. "A… supernova."

Yang laughed. "Exactly." She turned her head towards the general, who was still slowly backing away. "And a dying sun going supernova takes everything with it."

General Napier turned to run, but that wasn't going to save him. Yang laughed one last laugh, and then a fiery explosion, with Yang at its center, engulfed Beacon and the cliff it resides on, turning the entirety of Beacon and the land around it into her personal funeral pyre, along with all those honorable souls who fell defending Beacon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weiss and Pyrrha could see the flames consuming Beacon lighting up the evening sky, and the smoke blotting out the stars, but they had no idea that Yang was the cause of it, believing that the invading army had just set fire to the school. Weiss' tears had dried soon after they had landed in the encampment of evacuees, where the Vale military had began to arrive and tend to the wounded and set up relief tents. She had immediately taken a position of leadership, directing people to care for her own team as well as JNPR. Only Weiss and Pyrrha remained awake, the rest of them had been put in the medical tents for treatment and sleep.

"Do you think she made it to safety?" Pyrrha asked Weiss as they looked at the faintly glowing horizon.

Weiss waited a long while before responding. "I hope she did. I really do. But… no. I don't think she did."

They stood in silence, trying to process what had happened throughout the night. They heard footsteps approaching from behind, and turned to see who their guest was and saw Professor Ozpin striding toward them in the evening light, holding two cups of a steaming drink. "Miss Schnee. Miss Nikos." He offered them the two drinks.

Weiss took a sip, expecting coffee, but getting hot chocolate instead. "Chocolate?" she asked.

"It's good for the soul." Professor Ozpin explained. He waited, sensing that Weiss had something she needed to say to him.

"Professor… where were you? Beacon was attacked, and you were nowhere to be found. And now… our friends, our teammates… they're gone." Weiss struggled to get the words out, the emotions still running rampant inside her.

He waited a moment before responding. "This invasion started a few days ago. A meeting was called by representatives of the different lands and powerful figures- Professor Goodwitch and myself went to represent the huntsman and huntresses of Vale, trying to explain that we fight monsters, not wars. But the entire meeting was a ruse, and they launched preemptive strikes against the other countries' combat facilities." He explained. "I never thought they would attack Beacon. Not until Professor Oobleck arrived, having run all the way there at Professor Port's orders to tell us what happened.

"I… am sorry. I have failed my students, and my friends, and something terrible has happened." He paused, looking at the faint glowing light on the horizon that Weiss and Pyrrha had been looking at. His facial features hardened, and his eyes darkened. "They won't get away with this. They have no idea what I can do to them. What I will do to them." He turned back to the two students standing next to him. "But first, I need you to tell me what happened."

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Note: Team SBLE, pronounced Team Sable, is just an original name I came up with to fill up a few more characters in the story. Won't be a major part of the series.

Extra Note: Sable is another word for black in this case.

This is my first RWBY story, I would appreciate constructive criticism in whatever form, as I would like to make sure my writing keeps improving as needed.


	2. Heartbreak

Weiss and Pyrrha each nodded to Professor Ozpin, who turned in place and began leading them towards the large, plain canvas tent that had been erected further into the encampment. The night sky was clear, the stars and shattered moon providing enough light to see by between the lanterns that had been posted in front of the field of tents. As they kept pace with Ozpin, Weiss inquired, "Does my father know about what is happening here? Will the Schnee Dust Company contribute to the fight?"

Ozpin pulled a thermos out of his jacket, and poured some more hot chocolate into a cup for himself before answering. "He does, and it will. He was at the meeting, representing a number of businesses. I also contacted him after I arrived here." He looked over his shoulder at Weiss meaningfully, adding "He asked after you. He wanted to know if you were hurt."

Weiss came to a stop, a look of disbelief painting itself onto her face. "He asked about me?" She looked down towards the ground and shook her head. "He hasn't spoken to me since I arrived at Beacon."

Weiss felt Pyrrha's hand give her shoulder a gentle squeeze of comfort. "You're still his daughter. Even a disagreement as…" she paused, searching for a proper word to use. "-as large as yours doesn't change that."

Weiss shook her head again. "This isn't the time to talk about family issues. I'll deal with it another time." The tone of her voice indicated she wouldn't speak anymore on the subject tonight.

As they were about to step off again and continue on their way, an older woman with black hair that had the beginnings of grey touching the roots wearing a set of navy blue scrubs, whom Weiss vaguely recognized as one of the many medical staff that Beacon Academy employed, approached Ozpin. "Headmaster, you asked us to provide you with updates concerning the conditions of the students in the medical tents," she explained quickly and professionally, handing over a scroll.

Ozpin accepted the scroll, thanking her as she turned and walked back to her medical tent at a brisk pace. He glanced down at the scroll, using the touch screen to move the windows containing the updates on each of the students around as needed. "Ah. Miss Nikos, you will be pleased to hear that Mister Arc's leg is healing quite nicely, and he is strolling around the medical tent in crutches in an attempt to leave and find you. It seems they aren't letting him, though, which seems to be causing him some displeasure. And Miss Valkyrie is unharmed but sleeping under some sedatives." He continues flicking through windows, occasionally softly grunting in displeasure at what he see, at other times letting out a soft hum of approval at some of the better news. "And Miss Schnee, Miss Rose is awake as well. Though she appears to be confined to her bed at the moment due to her injuries. Miss Belladonna is still unconscious, but her injuries aren't severe. Just a mild concussion and some fractured ribs."

Ozpin lowers the scroll and looks at the two girls standing in front of him, both of whom have begun shifting their weight back in forth between their legs in anxiousness. He glances down at his watch, then back at the girls. "You can report to me in the morning about your account of what happened today- well, yesterday now, I suppose. Come to the command tent," he gestures towards the large tent in the distance, "an hour after sunrise. Go see your partners, get some sleep, eat some breakfast. There are plenty of other matters for me to attend to in the meantime." He smiled and topped off their cups of hot chocolate, then waved them off towards the medical tents.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The students gave their thanks, and then bolted off with speed towards their partners. Ozpin's smile remained on his face until they were out of sight, then immediately fell off his face into a much more dark and grim expression. "How did it look?" He spoke, seemingly to no one in particular.

A figure stirred in the shadows cast by the tent to Ozpin's left, and stepped out into the light, revealing a young man with messy, disheveled, green hair, and clothes to match, whose opaque glasses seemed to glow in the starlight. "Unexpectedly… clean, Headmaster." Bartholomew Oobleck answered solemnly.

"Clean?"

"Beacon isn't there anymore. It's just ash and scorched earth. I'm not entirely sure what happened. There isn't anything to report because, well… there's nothing there. I don't believe the soldiers did it either- there were no signs of any them leaving." He reported. "Was Glynda able to retrieve any of the video records from the remote servers?" He added, referring to the servers in the city that held the video files from the various security cameras around Beacon, to avoid having to find a place to keep them on campus.

Ozpin shook his head. "Not yet. She's at the security center now; she'll send them to my scroll as soon as she gets them." He looked Oobleck up and down, noting that his normally messy and disheveled appearance seemed to be… more than usual. "How are you feeling? I know you had to have gone through a lot. You ran all the way to a meeting in a faraway city to warn me at Port's orders, and all the way back to try to help, and now you're running reconnaissance missions for me. You need rest, friend."

Now it was Oobleck's turn to shake his head. "I… I can't. I need to be moving. I need to help. I need to do something." His eyes slightly lost their focus as he kept remembering the moments right after the attack started, when Port and Peach couldn't get into contact with Ozpin or Glynda. Port had realized that they were probably in trouble, and as acting headmaster in Ozpin's absence had order Oobleck to use his unmatched speed to find, and rescue if needed, Ozpin and Glynda. Oobleck had protested, wanting to help defend the school, but had been overruled and ordered away on his mission.

He had found Ozpin and Glynda, escaping from a ruined building that had been attacked while the meeting was in progress. The street around them was sprawled with bodies, courtesy of the huntsman and huntress, Glynda glaring at the bodies disapprovingly while Ozpin sipped from his cup, seemingly disinterested in the soldiers he had taken out. There were a variety of other people taking cover in the alley behind them, mostly politicians and cooperate businessmen that were represented in the meeting. "Headmaster!" Oobleck had yelled as soon as he had arrived on scene, arriving so quickly that the turbulence started a small whirlwind on the street, startling the people in the alley. Ozpin looked over at the green haired speedster, and nodded his head in greeting as if he was expecting him to arrive at that moment. "Beacon… has been… attacked," he reported, taking a couple deep breaths to calm his breathing after running a distance in hours that would take most land vehicles more than a day.

"I see." Ozpin replied, taking yet another sip from his cup. He turned to Glynda, "we'd best head back then. Could you get your hands on another scroll for us? It seems they scrambled all of ours."

"Of course." She replied coolly, giving the soldiers lying unmoving on the ground one final disapproving glare before turning away sharply with a 'tsk.'

Oobleck's eyes refocused and he looked down at his feet. "I feel like I abandoned them. I know why he sent me away, but… a part of me thinks that if I had only stayed, the old man would still be alive, or, or-" he trailed off.

"You did what had to be done, and there is no shame in that. Port knew what he was doing. I of all people know that the past can't be changed. Let's focus on what we can do now, and in the future." Ozpin nodded in the direction of the command tent. "Go get some rest Barty. At least for a few hours."

"Please don't start calling me Barty again, sir," Oobleck sighed. Despite his protests though, he slumped off towards the command tent for some rest.

Ozpin continued drinking his hot chocolate, waiting patiently for the night to end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weiss and Pyrrha burst into the medical bay, an enormous, beige, canvas tent held up by a complex grid of steel poles that allowed section of the tent to be separated into rooms of various sizes. Their bursting in earned them an immediate reprimand from the nurse sitting at a desk by the tent flap, resulting in the two girls needing to apologize quietly before the nurse would answer their questions. "Would you please tell us which rooms Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc are in?" Weiss asked, her teeth clenched together, nearing the end of her patience with worry for her partner, and annoyance at this stickler or a nurse.

The nurse eyed them suspiciously before checking the logs. "Rose…Rose… at the other end of the tent on your right side, room 49. Arc is just across in room 50." She finally reported. "But please try to stay quiet, many others are resting."

"Yes, yes, of course. Thank you very much for your assistance" Weiss replied snappily, turning away to find that Pyrrha had already taken off as soon as she heard what room Jaune was in and leaving Weiss far behind. Weiss shook her head as she walked, still baffled as to what inspired Pyrrha to pursue Jaune as a lover when they entered Beacon, as unimpressive as he was. Though Weiss had to concede that under Pyrrha's and Ren's tutelage, he had turned into an impressive specimen of a man and warrior. Still an idiot though, Weiss thought.

Pyrrha pulled aside the curtain and stepped into Jaune's room without warning, not giving him a chance to make sure he was presentable. Just a moment later though, Pyrrha stepped back out, and in response to Weiss questioning look said "He's not in there."

"Maybe he's visiting another student?" Weiss suggested.

The girls heard the sound of muffled footsteps, and a Jaune's voice. "Pyrrha? Is that you?" Before the curtains to their right, with the number 49 stitched on it, parted to reveal Jaune's face peeking out. "Pyrrha!" he exclaimed excitedly, hobbling out of the room.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha replied, rushing forward to embrace him, and pressing her lips against his, holding the sensation for a few seconds before releasing him. "I'm so glad you're okay. How's your leg? Does it hurt a lot? Should I get a wheelchair? Do-" she was cut off as he kissed her again.

"Pyrrha, I'm fine. Don't worry." Jaune giggled.

"Ahem." Pyrrha and Jaune turned to see Weiss, who had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot impatiently.

Both Jaune and Pyrrha immediately reddened in embarrassment. "S-sorry Weiss! We'll try to keep our couple stuff out of sight…" Pyrrha mumbled.

"I don't care about that. You're blocking the doorway." She replied icily.

"Oh. Sorry." Jaune stepped out of the way, leaving the way into Ruby's room clear.

"Thank you." Weiss grumbled. She stepped past the two lovebirds into Ruby's room, and was both impressed and unimpressed by what she saw in there. Weiss was unimpressed with the facilities- the room was tiny, with only enough room for a small bed and a couple fold-up chairs to be set up alongside it. A small bedside table was also present, containing a pile of various bandages and medications. What impressed the heiress was the plate of chocolate chip cookies Ruby had somehow managed to acquire, which she was happily eating at a rate Weiss had not thought possible for someone so injured.

Ruby looked up at her guests, and upon seeing her partner, exclaimed "Waish!" Weiss assumed that Ruby had meant to say her name, but was unsuccessful with a mouthful of cookies. Weiss let it slide this time, elated to see her partner alive and well.

"Ruby!" Weiss walked over, more quickly than she would ever admit to onlookers, and knelt down to check the bandages that adorned a large portion of Ruby's body. She checked the bandages on her head, which had a few bloodstains staining them, as well as a few more bandages on her torso, covering her chest and most of her abdomen. Moving her examination downwards, Weiss pulled off Ruby's bed sheets, ignoring her protests, to find a brace on her leg. "What is this? Is your leg hurt too?" she said, looking for any outward sign of injury.

"Weiss, I'm fine! Now stop taking off the bed sheets, Jaune's here!" Ruby complained. Weiss stopped her examinations and looked up, finally noticing that Ruby had no shirt on and that her upper body was covered only by the bandages she examined earlier. Weiss glanced down, her face reddening in embarrassment as she finally saw what Ruby was actually complaining about- she had no skirt or pants on and was, unsuccessfully, trying to cover up her now visible underwear with the plate of cookies.

Weiss, quicker than anyone could have imagined, threw all the bed sheets back onto Ruby, and in a blur of movement essentially swaddled her, covering everything except for Ruby's head. "Weiss, how am I supposed to eat my cookies now?"

Ignoring her question, Weiss growled "Jaune, if I turn around and find out you were looking… I'm going to make sure you need those kind doctors out there again." Weiss slowly turned, and found that Jaune's face was in fact covered, courtesy of Pyrrha's quick reactions and a towel she had grabbed off a chair. Pyrrha gave a thumbs up to Weiss to signal that Jaune had seen nothing. "Good." Weiss turned back to Ruby, who had wiggled her arms and shoulders out of the blankets to continue snacking on cookies.

Noticing Weiss was finally looking back at her, Ruby held out her arms in the traditional 'give me a hug' position. Weiss, her cheeks reddening for the second time in just as many minutes, obliged and held Ruby in a gentle hug, conscientious of her injuries. "I'm so glad you're okay Weiss."

A tear made its way down one of Weiss' cheeks. "I'm glad you're safe too." After a period of time that Weiss wished lasted longer she pulled back, straightening her outfit and sitting down in one of the chairs at the side of the bed as Ruby exchanged a short hug with Pyrrha as well, trading words of relief at each others' safety. "How are you feeling?"

Ruby stretched a little as Jaune and Pyrrha settled into their own chairs, opposite of Weiss. "Sore and tired, mostly. I should be good to go soon though. Tomorrow, if I can sneak past that over-protective nurse," Ruby giggled. "How's everyone else? They're all okay? I bet you all still totally kicked butt after I got hurt, huh?" Ruby asked, grabbing a plastic cup of water off her bedside table.

Weiss froze up. She wasn't prepared for this conversation, even though she knew it was inevitable. She had just hoped it wouldn't have been so soon. "Well… um…"

"Is Yang off getting in some alone time with Blake? If she is, don't worry about interrupting them. Just let me scold her later for not being here when I woke up." Ruby grinned, her radiant, beautiful smile full of innocence and playfulness.

No. No. No. Weiss didn't want to do this. She couldn't. Weiss loved that smile, loved Ruby. She had never found the time or place to say it, but she knew that if she told Ruby what happened, then it didn't matter, because Ruby would hate her for it. A part of Weiss' mind realized the irrationality of that thought, but that part of the mind was far, far away at the moment.

"Weiss? You look pale, are you sick?" Jaune asked. "Should I go find a nurse? I'll go get a nurse. Could you go get Yang and Blake for her, Pyrrha?" Jaune moved to stand up, but Pyrrha put a hand on his leg, stopping him. He looked up in confusion. With everything that had happened, Weiss had almost forgotten that Jaune didn't know about Yang.

"Blake…" Weiss started. "Blake is unconscious. She got hurt while we were escaping." Weiss continued, her voice trembling. "Yang…"

"Must be with her then! We need to go be with her too! " Ruby began sitting up to get out of bed, but Weiss jumped up and held her in place by her arms, keeping Ruby reclined against the pillows. She looked down, a puzzled look on her face. "Weiss?"

Ruby was alarmed, because looking back up at Weiss she saw a stream of tears pouring down her face, her eyes closed tight. "Yang… Yang isn't with Blake, Ruby." Ruby still wore a look of confusion on her face, waiting for Weiss to continue.

Oh please no. Please. Weiss looked over to Jaune and Pyrrha, who also looked confused and saddened, respectively. "Yang… didn't make it. She didn't make it back with us. There were soldiers, and a gunship, and… and… and she was protecting us, and she didn't make it back with us." Weiss finally broke down, crying tears as she held onto Ruby's arms, though Ruby was making no effort to stand anymore. Weiss blinked away her tears, trying to look at Ruby, trying to see what she could do to help. Anything to help.

"Yang's… not here?" Ruby asked, her voice barely a whimper. "Then… we have to go find her. She's invincible, she'll be safe! She's probably on her way here right now. We just have to go find her." Ruby made another attempt to get out of bed, but Weiss wrapped her in her arms and held on tightly so that Ruby couldn't do anymore than struggle feebly in place. "We have to go find her! What are you all waiting for?" Ruby tried struggling harder, her voice increasing in volume. Weiss could hear Jaune softly crying behind her as well, Pyrrha holding him tight. "No! Yang is invincible! She's my big sister! Nothing can stop her! She's not gone!" Ruby was wailing now, tears flowing down her face, as she struggled harder than ever to escape Weiss' grasp. "No! No! You're wrong! She's coming here! She's coming back! Just you watch! She can do anything!" Ruby had stopped struggling, and instead was holding on tightly to Weiss, squeezing as hard as she could, looking for something, anything to hold onto.

Ruby's wailing attracted a nurse who tried to ask what was going on, but Pyrrha ushered her out, pleading "she just found out her sister died. Please. Just let it go, for just a few minutes." The nurse nodded in understanding, and left.

Jaune stepped out, his cheeks still wet with tears. "I need to lie down. Come with me?" Pyrrha nodded solemnly as they walked back into his small room, where he flopped down onto the small mattress with Pyrrha at his side, and just held her close.

"No! Yang! Yaaaaaang! Come back! Please! Don't leave me!" Ruby's wails continued, interrupted by sobs and crying for a long while before the doctors came in and administered a sedative, explaining that her struggling and increase in stress was starting to cause some of her wounds to start bleeding again. After she finally fell quiet, they changed her bandages, stopping the newly slowing blood, Weiss at her side, holding her hand all the while.

With Ruby back into a sedative-induced sleep, Weiss stared at her partner's face, at the false peace that adorned her face right now. Weiss stood up, and made to leave the room, pausing at the door. "I'll be right back Ruby," she whispered. "I'll be here for you." Weiss stepped out into the hallway, making her way down to the nurse's station for another blanket so she could sleep by Ruby's bedside. The nurse's obliged her request, but before she left Ruby turned to the nurse again. "Sorry to trouble you again, but which room is Blake Belladonna in?" The nurse consulted her papers informed Weiss that Blake was in room 37. Weiss thanked her, and strode back down the hallway to room 37, peeking in.

"Blake? Are you awake?" Weiss whispered to the figure under the sheets.

There was silence, then a strangled, "…yes." Weiss was relieved, dashing into the room to check on her fellow teammate. As she inside the room, she could see that Blake had turned onto her side and curled up into a ball, arms wrapped around her legs.

"Blake, are you okay?" Blake shook her head. "Are you in pain?" Blake nodded her head. "I'll go get a nurse, okay?" Blake shook her head. "No?"

"Not that kind of pain," Blake whispered. It was only now, as Weiss got closer, that she saw the faunus' eyes squeezed tight, tears running sideways down her face like rivers, as her hands tightly gripped an orange scarf that Weiss remembered Yang buying her for their first anniversary, which Blake had almost never worn because it clashed so terribly with most of her outfits, but she always kept close by regardless.

"Blake…" Weiss whispered, reaching out to comfort her.

"I heard Ruby. You don't need to tell me." Blake whimpered. "Just leave me alone for tonight."

"I can-" Weiss began.

"Leave me alone." Blake interrupted.

"But-"

"Leave. Me. Alone." Blake growled.

Weiss backed away from Blake, her eyes watering up again. "Okay." She whispered. "Okay. I'll… come back tomorrow. I'm so sorry Blake." Weiss backed out of the room, and shuffled back to Ruby's room.

Weiss sat down in the chair, feeling more alone and heartbroken than she had ever felt before. A friend and teammate was dead, and the two people she would normally talk to about her pain were in even more pain than she was. She looked down at Ruby's face, and saw that even in her sleep, Ruby had tears sneaking out from her eyes, mourning her sister even in her sleep. Weiss' tears began flowing once more, knowing that she was powerless to help her leader, the woman she loved, with this pain. Weiss curled up against the bed, holding Ruby's hand, and fell asleep wishing the nightmare would end, and she would wake up in the morning at Beacon, Ruby blowing a whistle in her face, and that none of this had happened.

But of course, Weiss knew that such a thing was the wishful thinking of a lonely little girl who just wanted someone to hold her and tell her everything would be okay.


	3. The Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because of the contents of this chapter, some extra information is in order, please read:
> 
> Geography: Because I don't believe that there's been any official release on what places on the map of Remnant are what, I had to make some assumptions/ choices of my own. In the map with the four glowing dots, Vytal (where Vale/ Beacon are located) is the center dot, with Atlas to the north, Vacuo to the west, and Mistral to the east.

Professor Ozpin sat in his command tent, watching the security footage from the many cameras around Beacon that Glynda had delivered to him the night before. The footage, in conjunction with the little sleep he had gotten, had done little for his mood. Watching this footage, he had seen the death of one of his oldest friends, the destruction of his school and home, and the suffering of the students he was supposed to have been watching over. He heard footsteps on the rug behind him, recognizing the familiar footsteps of his ever present assistant, and slid his hand over to the scroll to pause the many video screens arrayed against the walls of his tent. Glynda held out a cup of steaming chocolate, his third of the day despite the early hour, which he took with quiet thanks.

"How are you feeling, Headmaster?" Glynda asked by way of introduction into the conversation.

Ozpin sighed a heavy sigh. "I am… heartbroken. And I want revenge. But I suppose that isn't the healthiest mixture of feelings." He sipped the steaming cup of chocolate, savoring the heat.

Glynda glanced up at some of the screens surrounding them, scrutinizing a group of them. "Is that…?"

"Yang Xiao Long, yes." Ozpin replied in answer to her unfinished question. "Keep watching her fight here," he pointed at a screen to Glynda's left, "at the landing pads behind the school."

Glynda watched in silence for minutes, before finally saying, "She was quite the powerful huntress. More so than I had thought," She added, watching as the fiery huntress fought her way through groups of soldiers.

"With another year or two of specialized training, she would've been one of the most powerful huntresses in the world, Glynda. She was miles ahead of any of the other students at Beacon. As for her being powerful… look here." Ozpin pointed to another screen above them, which had a still image on it, and tapped his scroll to resume that screen's video.

Glynda focused on the screen, and saw that Yang was lying on the ground, mortally wounded, with more soldiers scattered around her than she could make out. A man in a uniform was crouched down and speaking to her, but began backing off quickly. Glynda moved closer, curious, only to see Yang begin laughing, then glow, then there was a flash of light before the camera feed died. She turned to Ozpin, a questioning look on her face.

"She used the last of her energy to do… something." He explained, "Her aura or semblance I assume, and turned Beacon into an inferno, killing everyone in and around the school." Glynda looked back at the blank video feed, a hint of respect showing on her face, which spoke volumes about how much respect she actually was hiding beneath her cool exterior. "But we'll review these with the others on the council later. What news do you have for me?"

Glynda looked at the screen for a few more seconds, before recovering her composure and reading her report out loud. "Most of the students have recovered, physically. There are still a number of them who are still in shock from yesterday." Glynda started, reading from her clipboard. "As for the soldiers, my informants tell me they are from the west- Vacuo, it seems. My network is still looking for motive behind the invasion. Atlas and Mistral were attacked as well, and have refocused their efforts to defense and recovery. They have offered no soldiers as aid, and have retreated to their major cities." Glynda continued. Though her voice was calm, thanks to their long relationship Ozpin could hear the undercurrents of stress and resentment. Glynda clearly disapproved of the actions of the other lands, seeing their caution and defensive posture as cowardice.

"Well, I can understand their desire to defend their homes, even if I disagree with their actions." Ozpin said, glancing down at his watch. "Miss Schnee and Miss Nikos should be here soon. Will you handle the other students' reports while I go over theirs'?" Glynda nodded, stepping out of the tent in order to prepare for a station to speak to the students.

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Weiss could hear muffled noises around her, rousing the young heiress from her tempestuous sleep. She slowly opened her eyes, wincing as they adjusted to the bright light of the early morning light filtering through the tent. Realizing how uncomfortable her sleeping position was, bent over at an angle in a chair with her head on Ruby's bed, she sat up straight. Raising her arms to stretch, she encountered some resistance and found that Ruby had gripped Weiss' hand in the night, which made Weiss blushed slightly, remembering she was the one who had held Ruby's hand in the first place last night. Gently working her hand out of Ruby's, she stood up to go fetch Pyrrha, assuming she wasn't already awake, so they could report to Ozpin as they discussed the night before.

Looking back at the sleeping Ruby once more, Weiss closed the curtain behind her and crossed the hallway to see if Pyrrha was sleeping in Jaune's room, as she suspected. "Pyrrha?" she spoke softly against the curtain. "Are you in there?"

"Yes, I'll be out in just a moment," she heard Pyrrha reply softly.

"Okay. I'll meet you at the front of the tent." Weiss replied, turning to stroll down the tent's hallway. She stopped and looked into Blake's room, but found she wasn't there. Deciding she would look for her later, Weiss continued on her way. As she approached the staffing station towards the front, one of the doctors looked up at Weiss, and motioned for Weiss to come closer. "Yes?"

"Did Miss Rose finish her breakfast?" the elderly woman asked, her soft, yet clear, powerful voice belying her appearance and age.

"Ruby woke up already? She was asleep when I woke up just now." Weiss responded, surprised at hearing Ruby had already woken up once already.

"She was up quite early, before sunrise. I found her walking down the hall here looking for breakfast."

"Oh. I suppose she did then, I didn't see any food when I woke up."

"Excellent, a good appetite is a sign of recovery," the doctor said, making a notation on a nearby clipboard. She glanced up, looking at Weiss' face. "Did you get enough sleep? You seem to be a little flushed." The doctor reached up to feel Weiss' forehead to check for a fever.

Weiss backed away a step, waving her off. "I'm fine, I was just a little warm," she lied. She had began blushing and turning red once she realized that if Ruby had woken up and left, that meant that when she had lain back down in bed, she had also grabbed Weiss' hand. In an effort to change the subject, she asked, "Do you happen to know where Blake Belladonna is? She was in room 37 last night."

The doctor turned to consult a clipboard hanging on a post. "It says here Miss Belladonna signed herself out early this morning, and has since left."

"Oh, thanks. I'll go look for her later," She thanked the doctor again before stepping outside into the cool morning air.

"Morning, Weiss." Pyrrha said from behind her a few moments later. "Shall we?" Weiss nodded and they walked towards Ozpin's tent.

As they started off, they made small talk on various subjects- how Jaune was handling the situation, speculating on who the soldiers were, how this new war would affect the conflicts with the White Fang, and what this fight meant for the huntsman and huntresses who were fighting Grimm. If the huntresses and huntsman were to join in this war, it would mean less of them keeping back the Grimm, which would be an issue for the whole world. The chat continued for only a few minutes before they arrived at Ozpin's tent, and proceeded inside.

As they entered they could see a large array of screens, covered in all sorts of information, lining two of the walls of the tent behind the tables and desks. Some of the screens had lists of numeric information, others had maps, and others had various video feeds on them, some paused, some still playing in silence.

Ozpin turned, "Ah there you are. Please, sit." He gestured at some chairs next to one of the large tables near the screens. "Did you sleep well?"

Both the girls mumbled their responses of "yes, sir" and "I did" as they sat, paying more attention to the screens than to the small talk. Ozpin sat across from them, and said "I have been reviewing the video footage for a while now, and feel I have a grasp of yesterday's events. But-"

Weiss cut in, "You have the footage? Did you see what happened to Yang?" Weiss' voice was somewhat frantic and hopeful, but she calmed down as Pyrrha put her hand on her knee.

Ozpin tipped his head in appreciation to Pyrrha. "Yes, I did. If you aren't uncomfortable, I can show you. It's understandable if you'd rather not, though."

Weiss hesitated. "Yes, please. I need to see this."

Ozpin gestured to one of the lager screens, and fiddled around with his scroll, causing an image to pop up, and begin playing as a video. It started with Yang's landing after destroying the gunship, surrounded by soldiers. The number of soldiers was overwhelming to Weiss and Pyrrha, who thought for sure they were about to watch their friend die. But to their surprise, before the soldiers could attack her, she had said something to them and leapt into their ranks and began wreaking havoc on the soldiers. What had at first appeared to be an unbalanced fight with Yang fighting for her survival soon revealed itself to be quite the reverse- the soldiers were trying to escape from her, fear evident on their faces. Entire squads were wiped out, either shot or beaten to a pulp or ignited in flame. Her injuries were adding up though, until the resolution of the fight when she collapsed onto the ground after all the soldiers had either fled or been killed. Weiss and Pyrrha's mouths were hanging open in shock, unaware that Yang was such a powerful fighter. And seeing her final destruction of Beacon only shocked them further still.

Pyrrha looked back at Ozpin, asking "that was… amazing. She's a hero!"

Weiss also shared that sentiment, but had a slightly different take. "Yes, but she's still dead, regardless of how good she was. We aren't invincible."

Ozpin looked saddened. "No. It seems we aren't." He walked to another table off to the side of the tent, and grabbed two more cups of steaming brown liquid, "Coffee, this time." He set the drinks in front of them. "Now, give me your version of the events of yesterday, please."

Weiss and Pyrrha each alternated, telling their story. A day that began perfectly normally, waking up and eating breakfast. A breakfast that went horribly wrong as Professor Port ran in to alert them to the incoming attack and setting up a defense. A defense that was holding up nearly flawlessly, until team CRDL abandoned them out of cowardice, which resulted in the compromise of the rest of the school. As each of the girls told their stories from their respective sections of the school, Ozpin used his scroll to flip through screens and video feeds to reference areas they were talking about. His brow furrowed upon hearing about CRDL desertion, and he spent a long while watching the battle at the front of the school, analyzing it. As he traded information with the girls, they finally reached the end of their story as they arrived at the camp the night before.

"It seems I need to have a talk with CRDL, then." Ozpin concluded. "It is my judgment as well that if they had not run then the school would have fared much better. They are in the camp." Weiss and Pyrrha stood up, outraged. "You are forbidden from confronting them." The last statement was backed by a pressure and force that the girls could feel, and their sense of it was so strong they immediately hesitated and sat bat down. "I will deal with them." The girls nodded, reluctant to go against the Headmaster. "Now go eat some breakfast and rest. I'll call together all the students for an assembly later."

The girls nodded again, before excusing themselves from the tent. As they stepped out, Weiss heard a rushing of wind, but looking around she couldn't identify the source. Weiss thought she could smell a hint of roses in the air, but again, couldn't identify the source after looking around. "Weiss? Everything okay?" Pyrrha asked.

"Uh yeah, I just thought I saw something. Let's go eat so I can get back to Ruby." Weiss responded, walking towards the mess tents for their breakfast. As they left, a rose petal drifted lazily to the ground behind them, landing on the grass and dissipating in the wind.

Ruby was hiding behind a small stack of metal crates, watching Weiss and Pyrrha leave. She had been hiding outside of the tent as her friends told their story to Professor Ozpin, and had peeked into the tent to watch the video feed as he scrolled through, including her sister's death. She had followed Weiss because she wasn't sure why her partner had left so early, and not stayed with her, but now understood about the necessary report given to Ozpin. But her curiosity had allowed her to learn some important information: Team CRDL was responsible for the school falling, and therefore her sister's death, and Ren's death, and team SBLE, and a whole host of others.

A tiny voice in the back of her head was telling Ruby that blaming CRDL for everyone's deaths didn't make sense, but Ruby was beyond listening to that voice now, and pushed that voice behind a cacophony of other voices telling her that all of this was team CRDL's fault. A plan already in the making, she disappeared in a small flurry of rose petals.

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Blake Belladonna was kneeling at the edge of a small creek; her hands pressed together, fingers intertwined as she said a silent prayer to not any god, but to Yang's soul, asking for forgiveness for being unable to keep her safe. She wasn't wearing her normal outfit, instead wearing a black, silk kimono with some yellow stitching at the edges of the fabric, mostly around the collar and cuffs, but at the bottom of the kimono as well. She also had the orange scarf that she was clutching so tightly last night wrapped snuggly around her neck, not for warmth so much as for comfort. At her side sat a bouquet of belladonna flowers of a variety of colors- deep blue, violet, indigo, lavender- which Yang had loved comparing Blake too, and had always managed to acquire for special events, despite the flowers' poisonous nature and illegality.

Blake stood up, picking up the bouquet of flowers to leave at the small tombstone she had erected here next to the creek. As she set the flowers down, she heard a disturbance in the air behind her. Catching a faint hint of roses with her sensitive nose, Blake didn't even need to turn around to identify the figure slowly approaching her. "Morning, Ruby."

"Morning, Blake. Is it okay if I'm here?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

Blake turned around, embracing the shorter girl. "Of course it is. You're my team leader, and Yang's little sister, and my friend. You're always welcome here." Blake let go, feeling Ruby's shoulders shudder as she sobbed a little. "Don't cry Ruby. Yang would want us to smile and go enjoy ourselves right? Beat up some bad guys, spend time with our friends." Blake wiped away a tear, and put a smile on her face. "Right?"

Ruby let out a little giggle and smile, the same one that Blake remembered from their first year at Beacon. "Right." Ruby sniffed.

"And you're like my little sister too, so come to me if you ever need anything okay?" Blake added, taking Ruby's hands in her own.

"Yeah." Ruby used her wrists to wipe her eyes, her hands still in Blake's. "Will do." Ruby glanced over Blake's shoulder, and saw the bouquet of flowers on the makeshift tombstone Blake had erected. "Well, actually, can I have a few of those flowers? I wanted to do something special for Yang and since those flowers meant so much to you and her…" Ruby asked.

Blake blinked in surprise. "Um… yeah, sure. Do you want some fresh ones, or will a couple of these ones work?"

"Two or three should be fine, it shouldn't take very many for what I want to do. Just a small sort of tribute to my big sister, you know?" Ruby explained. Blake pulled a few of the nightshade flowers out of the bouquet, and held them out for Ruby. "Thank you, Blake." Ruby hugged the faunus girl again, before backing away. "I'm going to go start working on it now, thank you so much for the flowers."

"Anytime, Ruby." Blake replied. "I'm going to go apologize to Weiss; I wasn't very polite to her last night, even though she was trying to help me. Do you want to walk back together?"

Ruby shook her head. "Sorry, but I really wanna get started on this as soon as possible." Ruby explained, holding up the flowers before putting them in the small bag at her hip. "I'll see you later Blake, bye!"

Blake smiled and waved goodbye as the young redhead disappeared in a flurry of rose petals and disturbed leaves. "I wonder what she's making." Blake pondered as she returned to camp to search for Weiss.

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Nora was quietly sleeping in her small bed in the medical tent, dreaming of her past adventures with Ren when she felt a hand gently shake her shoulder. As her eyes fluttered open, she muttered "Ren, let me sleep in today." But as her eyes focused in the bright light, she found not Ren, but Ruby Rose looking down at her. "Ruby?" Where's Ren?" Nora looked around. "Is he sleeping somewhere else? Usually he sleeps with me." She rubbed her eyes. "Have you seen him?"

Ruby felt a twinge in her heart, realizing that Weiss and Pyrrha weren't exaggerating in their report to professor Ozpin about Nora being in extreme denial about Ren's death. Ruby could see it in Nora's eyes; they were empty, devoid of conscious thought, clinging to a false past. But she needed to break Nora out of this prison that her mind has concocted to protect her from the truth in order to move forward with her plan. Ruby leaned in close, whispering in Nora's ear. "Ren is dead. He was killed." Ruby heard Nora begin to voice her protests against that fact. "He died protecting you," Ruby continued, still whispering, "and it's all CRDL's fault."

Ruby straightened up, looking down into Nora's eyes. There was a flicker of light in her eyes for the briefest of moments as her mind registered what Ruby had said. "It was CRDL's fault?" Nora whispered.

"Yes. Because of CRDL, Ren is dead, and Yang too." Ruby answered, still whispering.

Then, for the first time since Ren's death, her eyes came into focus. "Ren and Yang? They're both dead?" Nora felt her heart pounding, her delusion finally shattering as Ruby's words ripped it apart around her. Nora had Yang had been good friends, somehow always getting along splendidly despite their personality differences. Her eyes narrowed. "CRDL." The word had a startling amount of hate and venom in it.

"CRDL. I think they should be punished. Are you with me, Nora?" Ruby asked, putting just as much venom and hate into the team's name as Nora.

Nora nodded, and the look of pure malice on her face. That look would've frightened Ruby at any other time, but at the moment, she had the exact same look on her face.

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Nora crouched behind CRDL's tent, waiting for Ruby's signal. Ruby had a plan, and Nora was glad for it. Anything Nora came up with would've been a very straightforward plan that would've mostly likely resulted in Nora's arrest, at best. But Ruby's plan had the touch of elegance that a leader should have, and Nora immediately agreed to it. Nora was feeling restless, and wanted to move, but she knew that she had to stay down and out of sight while keeping watch. Her patience paid off a couple hours later, hearing four distinct muffled thuds coming from the inside of the tent. She smiled, and turned around to lift the bottom of the back side of the tent and slipped under and in.

Ruby was standing there, the convulsing bodies of team CRDL lying silent on the floor of the tent around her. Ruby smiled, and turned to close the flap, cutting off the view from anyone outside. Nora looked at each member of team CRDL as their eyes darted around sightlessly and they mumbled incoherently, flopping around on the ground. "What did you do to them?" Nora asked, poking Cardin Winchester's face in curiosity.

"I got some nightshade flowers from Blake," Ruby explained. "I ground it up and put it in their drinks before they woke up." Ruby was moving between the members of team CRDL, tying their arms and legs together and gagging them.

"Poison, huh?" Nora paused in the act of throwing Cardin over her shoulder. "Is Blake helping with this plan then?"

"No, I didn't tell her. The less people that know, the better." Ruby explained, helping Nora throw Sky Lark over her other shoulder, Nora's immense strength shouldering the load easily.

As Nora waited for Ruby to lift the back of the tent to scout out their surroundings, she asked, "Why ask me for help then, and not do it yourself?"

Ruby signaled that the coast was clear, and Nora followed her out. "Because I'm not strong enough to carry them on my own." Ruby glanced at Nora as they began running towards the forest. "And I knew you would understand the same need for revenge I feel."

Ruby's honesty made Nora laugh. "Good point," Nora replied as they ran as fast as they could towards the nearby forest without attracting attention. After they got in just past the edge undetected, they dropped their captives and went to fetch the other two members of CRDL. Fifteen minutes later, Nora and Ruby arrived with the other half of CRDL, and began tying them together into one chain of people, feet to hands.

"All done!" Nora announced. "Where to now?"

"This way, I found the perfect place." Ruby led the way into the depths of the forest.

"Okay~" Nora sang.

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Weiss and Pyrrha were leaving the mess tent when they encountered Blake, wearing a kimono and the orange scarf that was her keepsake of Yang. Weiss stiffened, nervous at how Blake may react to seeing her. Her fears were groundless though, as Blake simply embraced her gently and apologized for her behavior the night before, which sparked a back and forth of apologies as Weiss insisted it was understandable and Blake insisted her behavior was inexcusable as a teammate, but their silly argument ended with them embracing again, and with Pyrrha as well. Weiss broke the hug, asking "We're about to go check on Ruby and Jaune, would you care to join us?"

"Ruby? I just saw her down by the creek; I don't think she's in the medical tent anymore." Blake explained.

"She left? Ugh, how did I miss her again!" Weiss complained.

"Its okay, Weiss. She probably just went to your team's tent." Pyrrha soothingly replied.

"Team tents?" Blake asked.

"Professor Ozpin had tents set up for teams to stay in." Weiss mentioned as she gestured towards a large sprawl of smaller tents.

"I see. Why don't you two go check there then? I wanna walk around a little more," Blake suggested.

"Sure. We'll see you at our tent later, okay?" Pyrrha responded, walking off towards the tents with Weiss.

"Bye." Blake waved a small goodbye, beginning to get curious about the circumstances of her team leader, Ruby Rose. Why would she ask Blake for help doing something for Yang, but not Weiss? Weiss was her partner and a teammate of Yang's as well. Blake decided the best way of finding Ruby would be to try to follow the smell of nightshade flowers through the camp, as the chances of anyone else having them were next to nothing.

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Nora and Ruby were trudging through the forest, Ruby leading the way while Nora dragged team CRDL behind her through the dirt and brush. "Are we nearly there, Ruby? We've been walking for hours now." Nora asked, not tired so much as she was bored at the long journey.

"We're here, actually. It's this clearing right here." Ruby hopped into a grassy clearing just ahead of Nora. "Throw them in the center, there." The clearing was a simple, large, and grassy area devoid of trees, with small cliff side rising above, a dark maw of a cave in the side of it that the girls couldn't see in to.

Nora unceremoniously tossed team CRDL into the center of the clearing, giving no regard to their well being. She did, however, notice Cardin's glare and grunting complaints. "Hey, it looks like the poison wore off on Cardin!" Nora jumped and plopped down on the grass next to him. "How ya doin' sleepyhead?"

Cardin struggled to break his bonds, grunting and moaning into the gag in his mouth. "Is he trying to say something?" Ruby asked, stepping closer. "Let's take the gag out and see what he has to say for himself." Ruby reached down and viciously tore the cloth gag from his mouth, earning a grunt of pain from Cardin.

"What the hell are you doing? Let me loose!" Cardin immediately yelled.

"Nope. You get to stay right there." Nora said playfully, rolling Cardin around with her foot.

As Cardin continued to struggle with the ropes binding him, Ruby explained, "Well you see, because you and your team," Ruby waved her hand over the still unconscious members of Cardin's team, "abandoned your post at Beacon, my sister and many others died."

"Like my Ren." Nora whispered in Cardin's ear, frightening him, as he had not seen her creep up on him.

"We were fighting an army, it made sense to run, everyone should've!" Cardin tried to justify his cowardice with coward's logic, which only infuriated Ruby and Nora.

Ruby furiously stuffed the cloth gag bag into Cardin's mouth, explaining "You're going to want to keep this in so you don't bite your tongue. Nora, will you do the honors?"

"My pleasure." The dark tinge to Nora's voice was enough to make Cardin shudder in fear. Nora reached behind her and pulled out Magnhild, extending the weapon to its hammer form. Cardin tried to wiggle away, but his futile effort was rewarded with Nora's hammer smashing down onto his left knee, shattering the bones.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blake heard a scream of unadulterated coming from deeper in the woods. She was rushing through the trees more slowly than normal because she had the kimono on rather than her normal attire. She had not found any trace of Ruby during her walk, but had caught a whiff of nightshade as she passed team CRDL's tent. Suddenly worried at Ruby's intentions, she entered the tent to find spilled drinks on the floor, and no team CRDL. She did smell Ruby and Nora's scents though, which only made her worry more. She found the scents led to the forest, and immediately began following the six human scents through the forest. The smell of nightshade had faded, indicating to Blake that the flowers had been either left behind or ingested. She was beginning to suspect ingested.

As she rushed through the trees, she heard a second scream of pain, from the same voice, which she was beginning to recognize as Cardin. Blake began to get an idea of what had happened- Ruby had most likely tricked CRDL into drinking the flowers Blake had given her, and rendered them either unconscious or hallucinating. Nora then carried them into the woods, and the two girls were beginning to do… something. "Why though?" Blake wondered.

As Blake approached the source of the screams, she slowed her pace and quietly crept closer through the trees, and happened upon a strange scene. Ruby and Nora were standing above a terrified team CRDL, Nora with weapon in hand. In front of the pair of girls was a screaming Cardin, and it wasn't difficult to see why. Cardin's legs had been shattered, bent at places they weren't meant to bend. The rest of his team looked terrified with a hint of groggy, indicating to Blake that they were awakened by Cardin's screams.

As Cardin's screamed finally settled into pained whimpers, Blake's sensitive faunus ears could hear Ruby start talking. "You see Cardin- you ran away from a fight a got my sister killed. And Ren. And many others. And now, I think it's time someone ran away from a fight and left you to try to fend for yourselves." In one swift motion, Ruby unsheathed, extended, and swung Crescent Rose at Cardin, cutting the ropes binding him, freeing his arms and legs, and separating him from his teammates. Blake couldn't believe the menacing voice she was hearing belonged to Ruby, who only this morning seemed to still be the innocent girl she remembered.

"Now, you seem to have a slight handicap in a fight now, so we recommend trying to free your teammates, because all that screaming you did seems to have attracted some unwanted attention." There was a skittering sound from the far side of the clearing, in the direction of the dark cave entrance. Something was moving inside the cave. "It seems that a fight is about to start. Looks like it's time for us to go."

"After all, it makes sense to run from a big, scary Grimm, right?" Nora finished, putting her weapon back onto her back. She turned with Ruby and left without another word, running back through the forest towards the camp.

Blake watched them leave, and waited until they were out of earshot before leaping down from her perch in the trees to land at the edge of the clearing where CRDL resided. Cardin saw her and yelled, "You have to help me! Please! I don't want to die!" Blake could only watch with morbid curiosity as Cardin attempted to crawl towards her with just his arms, his legs dragging uselessly behind him. His teammates were struggling on the ground, looks alternating between Cardin and Blake, clearly pleading for help. The skittering noise from the cave was getting louder.

"So you'd rather crawl away and leave your teammates than try to help them out so they could help you?" Blake asked.

"Please just help me!" Cardin pleaded, ignoring Blake's question. His cry for help was punctuating but the emergence of a Deathstalker from the entrance to the cave, clicking its pincers menacingly and hissing.

"As much as I think you deserve it, I don't want to kill you, Cardin." Blake said, crouching down in front of him.

"Oh thank you. Please, you have to hurry." Cardin had tears of both pain and relief falling from his eyes.

Blake put her fingers under Cardin's chin and lifted his head so he could look her in the eyes. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to save you." Blake let go of Cardin, dusting her hand off on her side as if she had just touched something filthy. Looking down at Cardin, who had frozen in shock, she turned and casually strolled away into to forest, ignoring the screams coming from behind her as the Deathstalker charged at its helpless prey.


	4. The Rose's Flight

Professor Ozpin was strolling through the tents he had organized for his students, greeting students and providing words of assurance as he made his way through the camp looking for the tent that had belonged to team CRDL. He had hoped that the years at Beacon would have assisted the less-than-stellar boys of CRDL with growing up and improving their personalities to match their physical strength, but it seems that it wasn't meant to be. Their poor behavior was most likely a contributing factor to the failure of Beacon's defense, but at the same time Ozpin couldn't exactly blame the attacks on Beacon and other places around the world on them. He figured that while he couldn't blame CRDL, he could certainly discipline them harshly. After asking each of the students he spoke to what direction CRDL's tent was, Ozpin eventually found himself standing in front of a tent with a piece of masking tape labeled "CRDL" stuck to the side of the entrance flap. "Team CRDL, this is Professor Ozpin. A word, if you please."

Hearing no response, Ozpin repeated himself with a little more volume. Still receiving no response, and becoming ever so slightly annoyed, Ozpin grumbled, "I'm coming in." Ozpin pulled aside the tent flap and stepped in, straightening up inside the tent. Instead of encountering team CRDL however, he found himself inside an empty tent. Looking around, he noticed small things around the tent that were just ever so slightly out of place- unfinished food, a spilled drink that was dripping off of the box that he presumed they were using as a makeshift table, scattered and unorganized sleeping pallets, scuffed and scraped floors- all signs of either a struggle, or some other physical exertion that wasn't standard behavior.

Ozpin stepped back out of the tent, changing his destination. He once again began speaking to the students, answering questions where he could, and consoling where needed. At the same time, he asked if they had seen CRDL, or were aware of their whereabouts. It saddened him that upon hearing CRDL's name, nearly all of the students reacted with poorly disguised fear or disgust. It was unfortunate that any of his students were regarded like that, but he supposed that they had earned that reputation through their own actions. His questioning yielded him no results however, as nearly everyone Ozpin spoke to answered that CRDL had been in their tent, and had generally avoided leaving the tent altogether without need ever since their arrival the day behavior. With this new information, he changed his search from team CRDL to the girls from this morning- Weiss and Pyrrha. But he still kept a lookout for CRDL, just in case.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ruby and Nora walked through the woods back in silence, the journey going much more quickly without the burden that was team CRDL. If they kept this pace up, they would be back well before lunch, to Nora's delight. But as the edge of the forest came into sight, Nora reached out in front of her to grab onto Ruby's sleeve. Ruby turned her head towards Nora with a "Hmm?"

"I'm sorta wondering what the next step to this plan of yours is. I've been thinking about it the whole way back so far, and I can't quite imagine how we're going to explain this one away." Nora was speaking uncharacteristically slowly, Ruby thought. But then again, Ruby suspected that she and Nora were changed forever, after yesterday. "Don't get me wrong, I think what we did was totally what they deserved and stuff, but I'm not entirely sure other people may see it that way. We might be in a bit of trouble, you know?" Nora continued.

"I know," Ruby said confidently. "Which is why there is more to the plan. And you're going to have to trust me."

Nora stopped walking. "Do you really have to say that? Of course I trust you." Nora looked Ruby in the eyes as she turned around. "But I don't think I'm going to like this next part of the plan anyway, huh?"

Ruby nodded. "I need you to lie to Professor Ozpin, and my team, and your team, and everyone else."

"What? Lie about what? That we did this?" Nora asked, completely sure that a plan like that would fail.

"Nope. I need you to lie that you did this." Ruby corrected. "Blame everything on me, and tell a story of how you tried to stop me."

"No way! I'm not abandoning you to some punishment while I go free!" Nora complained, resolute in her loyalty to her friend.

"I won't be getting punished; I'm leaving and running away." Ruby interrupted before Nora could continue with her complaints.

"You're…leaving?" Nora asked softly. "After everything that's happened, you're leaving? What about your team? My team? Your friends? Weiss will be devastated! And Blake, and Jaune, a- and I can't see any good reason for you to leave alone!" Nora was out of breath; her voice had been escalating in volume.

"I know this is terrible timing. But I can't deal with seeing everyone right now. I pretended to be asleep this morning so I wouldn't have to talk to Weiss, and I avoided everyone else. I even only spoke to Blake because I had too. I'm sure that someday I'll come back, but right now, losing Yang and then having to deal with everyone else is too much for me to handle." Ruby's short speech was impassioned, and to Nora it sounded like Ruby was trying to convince herself as well.

"Ruby, you're a team leader, and a very good one. You can't give up and abandon your team like this! You said you would be the best you could be as a leader, remember? And after we get back, we can take the fight to whoever those soldiers were- for Yang, for Ren, and for everyone else." Nora tried to reason with Ruby the same way Ruby broke Nora out of her denial- a desire for revenge.

Nora's effort was in vain, however. Ruby shook her head, "I know its selfish and whatever, but I need to get away. And this also works for you, because if we both go back, then there's no way you would get your chance at revenge on the soldiers, right?" Ruby explained, turning Nora's own logic against her. "Someone would figure out what we did eventually, and then we would both be in trouble. So please, let me do this, okay? If I'm leaving anyway, at least use me for something."

Nora was beginning to tear up, unwilling to lose someone else, but understanding nonetheless. "Okay," She sniffed, "fine. You win, again." Nora reached out and gave Ruby a bone crunching bear hug. "You better come back, okay?"

Ruby nodded as Nora pulls back. "I will. Someday." Ruby looked in the direction of the camp. "Tell them you saw me and tried to stop me, but couldn't and then I ran away, alright? Simple stories are best."

Nora nodded. "I will. Goodbye, Ruby." Nora turned back, and jogged the rest of the way out of the forest, leaving Ruby standing alone amidst the trees.

Ruby turned the opposite direction and was about to leave when she heard a voice from up above her. "You're really going to leave without at least saying goodbye to any of us?" Ruby jumped, not expecting anyone to have been nearby. She calmed down quickly though, recognizing the voice of her teammate.

Ruby looked up to find Blake sitting with her legs crossed on a thick branch above her, looking as calm and composed as ever. "Hey there Blake." Blake shifted her weight, and as she slipped down off the tree she uncrossed her legs, landing on both her feet quiet as… well, a cat. "I was hoping I could get away without anyone noticing. Are you going to try to stop me too?"

Blake shook her head. "No, I know better than to try to convince you to change your mind," she smiled. "You're like Yang in that respect." Ruby gave a small grin at the comparison. "It's not your fault, you know. I don't blame you, and I'm sure Yang wouldn't either."

"It still feels like my fault though. If I had been stronger…" Ruby replied.

Blake hugged Ruby, holding her tight. "I know how you feel, Ruby. I know." Blake gave the younger girl another squeeze before softening her embrace enough to bring a hand up to comb some of Ruby's hair out of the way, then planting a kiss on her forehead. "I'll back up Nora's story for you so it doesn't sound so suspicious, okay? She's not the best actress," Blake giggle.

Ruby tensed up. "You… know what we did?"

"I watched the tail end of it, yes."

Ruby stayed silent for a few moments. "…and?"

Blake raised one eyebrow. "And what?"

"No scolding, no praise, no nothing?"

Blake let out a small sigh. "I think that what you two did isn't entirely my style. I didn't even think of attacking them. But I don't really disagree with your choice either. We each deal with our grief differently, I suppose." Blake turned her head towards the edge of the forest, her ears twitching. "Nora's out of the forest now." Blake looked down at Ruby. "Do… you want me to tell Weiss about this?"

Ruby shook her head. "No, I don't think she should know. While I'm sure she would've even helped if I'd asked, I can't do that to her. Let her think I've done something wrong and run away. I'll tell her someday."

"She'll be heartbroken without you, you know."

"Will you try to comfort her? Please?"

"I'll do my best, Ruby."

"Thank you." Ruby hugged Blake, surprising the faunus girl. Stepping back, Ruby finished by saying "I'm going to go now, before anyone else finds me. Goodbye, Blake." And then Ruby was gone, leaving only a few rose petals, already dissipating into nothingness, and a hint of the scent of roses behind.

"Goodbye, Ruby."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weiss was sitting in her tent, alone. She had found her team's tent with Pyrrha a short while earlier after breakfast, and was disappointed to find no Ruby in sight, or even a sign that Ruby had been in the tent at all, as all the sleeping bags and other supplies were still stacked neatly in the center of the tent. Pyrra was in team JNPR's tent, which was next to RWBY's, with Jaune. Returning to the medical tent had revealed that Nora had woken up and disappeared somewhere, and Jaune was awake and about to leave. The three students had returned to their tents, keeping an eye out for their fellow teammates, but they had no such luck in finding any of them. Weiss had settled for waiting in her tent for Blake and Ruby's eventual return, and was patiently waiting and tending to her nails.

While waiting, Weiss heard a voice that sounded familiar asking for Pyrrha next door, and so stood up and poked her head outside. Directing her gaze towards JNPR's tent, Weiss found herself looking at Professor Ozpin's back. Pyrrha stepped out of the tent, Jaune not far behind her, answering Ozpin's request for an audience. Ozpin turned around, and saw the young heiress' head sticking her head out of the tent. "Miss Schnee, excellent timing. I need to speak with you and Miss Nikos here. Shall we step over here?" He held his hand out towards a small opening behind the tents, away from the other students.

"Um, yeah. Sure." Weiss answered, caught off guard. She followed behind Ozpin, who led the students behind the tents.

"Is something wrong, Professor?" Pyrrha asked when they came to a stop.

"I've gone to speak to team CRDL about their… behavior." Ozpin started.

Weiss interrupted, saying "And did you punish them? Are they being sent away? Are-"

Ozpin stared at Weiss until she stopped talking. "No, they are not being punished." He held up his hand to forestall the complaints the students were about to raise, and judging by the look of disbelief on their faces and their open mouths, they were ready to voice protests. "Team CRDL is not being punished because it seems they have disappeared. I cannot find them, and none of the other students are aware of their whereabouts either." The three students in front of them looked incredulous. "And so, I find that in light of our earlier conversation, I must ask: Did you confront CRDL?"

"What? No! You told us we weren't allowed to, and we've been in our tents ever since we ate breakfast!" Pyrrha responded strongly.

"Professor, I am offended that you think students such as ourselves would disobey such an order and-" Weiss added, but was again interrupted by Ozpin holding up a hand.

"I am not accusing you girls. Just asking. There appears to have been a struggle in their tent. And I've spoken to all the other students except for your two teams." Ozpin explained. "I will need to continue looking for them at another time. I will be sending out an announcement that there will be an assembly where I will be talking to the students in half an hour. It will be in the clearing on the east side of the camp." He turned and began walking away. "Make sure you bring the rest of your teammates if you can."

Weiss and Pyrrha looked at each other, shrugging at the strangeness of the situation, while Jaune scratched his head in confusion. "You think Cardin and his band of fools ran away again?" Weiss asked Pyrrha.

"With them, who knows?" Pyrrha replied, indifferent to the health of CRDL. "Do you want to come over and wait with us in our tent?"

Weiss nodded in response. "Yes, sure." Weiss followed the other two students into their tent, where they talked and continued relaxing until needed.

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True to his word, half an hour later there was a series of announcements from Glynda Goodwitch over a megaphone, ordering the students to the east clearing. On the way to the clearing, they came across Blake, who was coming from the direction of the forest. "Blake! Where have you been?" Weiss asked when Blake's path intersected with theirs.

Blake gave Weiss a reassuring smile, but Weiss swore she saw a fleeting hint of sadness in her expression for the briefest of moments. "It's a long story, I'll tell you later. I heard Professor Goodwitch's announcement, do you know what it's about?"

Weiss shook her head while Pyrrha responded, saying "Professor Ozpin didn't tell us when we spoke to him."

"I see." Blake then gave the other three students a look over, looking at their dirty, rumpled outfits that they had been wearing for the last couple days. "Have you guys not cleaned up at all? You look… dirty." Jaune looked down at his outfit, jeans and his favorite sweater, and shrugged, not at all too concerned with his appearance at the moment. Weiss and Pyrrha though, looked down at their outfits, their faces flushing lightly with embarrassment at the state of their clothing and their cleanliness.

"Well- I- you see-" Pyrrha stuttered nervously, not entire sure how to respond. "We've had more pressing matters to attend to, that's all." Pyrrha finished, with a note of determination, fully expecting Blake to accept that answer and not pursue the embarrassing matter further.

"Wait, Blake where did you clean up?" Weiss asked, avoiding answering why she, an heiress who was meticulous with her cleanliness, was dirty and unkempt. "And where did you get a change of clothes? It didn't even occur to me earlier that you were wearing a different outfit."

Blake pointed off to a tent on the far side of the camp. "When the citizens of Vale heard of the attack on the school, they came out in droves to help with donations of all sorts of supplies- clothes, food, sleeping supplies. That's where I got this" Blake motioned down her body at the kimono she was wearing. "I also bathed in the creek not far from here, since there really aren't showers or baths here. I hung my clothes up to dry there too."

Pyrrha and Weiss stared at Blake, shocked that they hadn't thought to practice some simple hygienic activities like she had. Pyrrha broke the silence, asking "Could… you show us to this tent and creek?"

"There isn't anyone else at the creek, is there?" Weiss asked, nervous about someone peeping at her during a bath."

"I doubt it. It's a good distance away and there weren't any footprints or scents that I noticed." Blake assured her. "I'll take you guys later, alright?"

"I take it I'm not invited to this little bathing session of yours?" Jaune asked jokingly.

"I don't mi-"

"No." Weiss interrupted Pyrrha. "No." She repeated for emphasis. Pyrrha pouted. Jaune laughed.

"Let's go to the assembly then, shall we?" Blake smiled, and then started off to the east clearing.

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Ozpin stood on the back of a large truck that he had asked a soldier to drive to the clearing so that he had a platform from which to speak from. He watched as his students entered the clearing from every direction- the students' tents where they were resting, the mess tents where they were eating, or wherever else they happened to be in the encampment. He once again had his cup in his hand, filled with hot chocolate, courtesy of Glynda. He continued standing tall, waiting for the students to fill the clearing in their standard assembly formation. He noted, with a hint of sadness, the empty spaces in the students' formations, grim reminders of the recent attack.

Soon enough the students had lined up and it had been a few minutes since any had walked in, so Professor Ozpin assumed that all the students in the encampment were gathered here. Running his eyes over the crowd, he noticed with some trepidation that he saw neither team CRDL nor Ruby Rose in the crowd. Resolving to investigate the matter later, He called the students to attention, and braced himself to begin his speech.

His voice easily carried through the crowd. "Students of Beacon, thank you for coming here today. I gathered you all here to try to give you what information I have, in addition to another announcement afterwards." Ozpin paused for breath. "My information suggests that the soldiers who attacked us, and other places around the world, are from Vacuo." The students began whispering and mumbling to each other, having finally learned who their attackers were, and surprised that other places around the world were also attacked and not just Beacon, or even just Vytal. "We don't yet know why they attacked, but our school, along with other schools for huntsman and huntresses around the world, were attacked. Other places that were attacked include many military bases and the few Fortresses left in the world."

The Fortresses were magnificent stone structures of all shapes and sizes scattered throughout the world, remnants of old civilizations, of when huntsman and huntresses needed shelter from the darkness on their journeys. With the growth of the great cities, the fortresses were falling into ruin, but a few were still maintained and used as bases and headquarters for traveling huntsman and huntresses in their fight against the Grimm.

Ozpin continued, "Which brings me to my announcements: The Vytal Council is convening soon to announce a formal declaration of war against Vacuo." This announcement was met with another stirring of whispers among the students. "In addition, with the destruction of Beacon Academy and nearly all of the other schools like ours, classes will no longer be in session. You will all be sent home. I have already received messages from some of your parents informing me that they are already on their way here. This evening I will be sending out messages to the rest of your families. Part of these instructions include requests for them to come and collect you, or if that isn't possible, they will give me permission to have someone escort you home safely." An excited murmur ran through the students at hearing that they would be able to go home. He noticed a fair number of students though, who did not look so pleased. "That is all I have for you. Are there any questions?" Immediately he saw a hand shoot up in the senior students' section of the formation. "Yes, Miss Schnee?"

Weiss stood up angrily, loudly asking, "You're sending us home?" Weiss' voice was filled with poorly disguised surprise and anger.

"Yes, Miss Schnee. You are students, and it would not be prudent to keep you here," he gestured at the encampment around them, "when we are so ill equipped to continue teaching you in such a place. Until we have facilities to do so, there will be no lessons. If you and your families decide to do so, I'm sure you could move and transfer to any school of your choice that's still continuing lessons. I will of course write letters of recommendation explaining the situation."

"You misunderstand me, Professor. I don't want to go to a different school- I want to fight!" Weiss shouted.

Ozpin tried to placate the indignant heiress. "I'm sorry Miss Schnee, but I must insist that you go ho-"

"No! I will not go home. Beacon was my home! I may have been a student, but I am an adult, and I will fight back!" Weiss finished, stomping her foot in finality.

The other students were silent in shock at hearing one of their own speak up at going back to the fight. Most wanted to leave, to go home with their families and wait out the war somewhere else, to leave the fighting to the professional huntsman, huntresses, and soldiers. Ozpin could see many of them disagreeing with the outspoken girl. But he also saw others who quite obviously were leaning towards joining the fight. "I understand your frustration, but-"

Ozpin was interrupted yet again, but this time by a red- headed role model student who had shot to her feet. "I agree with Weiss, Professor. We should be allowed to fight for our home, and not sent away to wait out a battle where our skills would be invaluable." Pyrrha's speech, on top of Weiss' speech and objection, had moved a number of students to stand up and join the ranks of the two girls in their desire to fight.

Ozpin looked at the standing members of the student body. He saw that the entirety of the remaining members of teams RWBY and JNPR had stood defiantly, in addition to Velvet Scarlatina, and a couple dozen other students. Then another couple dozen. And another. And soon, nearly half of the assembled students were on their feet. Ozpin could only sigh at the turn of events. "I suppose… I cannot stop you if you are that determined to join." Some of the standing students began to cheer, but Ozpin cut them off before they could get started. "However!" The students quieted down. "Only if you are of age. If you have not reached legal adult age, you will not be fighting." Several of the students began to protest. "This point is not negotiable." With disappointed chorus of grumbles, a large number of the students who had been standing sat back down, leaving only around three dozen students left standing.

"If you are choosing to volunteer to fight, stay here and come meet with me. The rest of you, you are dismissed, and free to…" he checked his watch," eat a marginally late lunch or go about your business, as long as you stay in the encampment. Some of your parents may be arriving this evening, so keep a lookout. No leaving without notifying me or Professor Goodwitch personally. Good day to you." Ozpin concluded his speech with a small wave, and the assembled students all filed away to wherever they wished to spend their time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weiss was thankful that Pyrrha had stood up with her to argue for their right to fight, she was sure that if it had been just her then no other students would've joined with her. At the moment though, she did not particularly care if any other students joined her or not, because Ruby had not shown up for the assembly, and Weiss was getting worried. Looking around for Ruby hopefully, Weiss saw no sign of her partner. She did see that all the other students who did not wish to fight had left though, and Professor Ozpin motioned for the remaining students to follow him. Weiss and her fellow students trailed behind him towards the tent, curious and anxious.

Weiss heard Blake talking to someone behind her, and so she stopped walking and turned to see who her teammate was talking to, and to fall in beside her to talk. Blake caught up, with the quiet Velvet Scarlatina walking beside her. Weiss' eyes widened for a moment in shock when she saw that one of Velvet's ears was missing the top third of its length, and what remained was wrapped in gauze pads and bandages. She had other bandages as well peeking out from under her clothes here and there, but they didn't seem bother her very much. "Velvet dear, it's good to see you're safe." Weiss reached out and lightly embraced Velvet before they started walking again.

Velvet grinned her thanks, replying "Safe, if not exactly in one piece." While pointing up at her missing ear. "I'm glad you got out as well." Weiss was glad to see Velvet trying hard to maintain her more playful demeanor that Blake and Yang had managed to tease out of her over the last two years, despite the circumstances. "I'm so sorry to hear about Yang and Ren." Velvet was looking at Blake as she said this, having developed a particularly close relationship with the cat faunus and her girlfriend over the years. Weiss turned away, making sure that her slight blush didn't show up inappropriately in this situation. It was an uncontrollable impulse as far as Weiss was concerned, after having heard Yang let slip in conversation during a late night team RWBY fireside chat that she and Blake had invited Velvet to participate in some of their more intimate activities from time to time. Ever since then, Weiss had blushed whenever she saw Yang and the rabbit-eared faunus together, or even heard both their names near each other in conversation. Blake had found it amusing enough to always laugh it off, and at times even bring up, but Weiss was positive this was not an appropriate time.

"I'm sorry to hear about your team too." Blake replied, holding Velvet's hand in an effort to comfort each other as they walked.

In answer to Weiss' puzzled look, Velvet explained that she was the only one of her team members to make it out of Beacon. Weiss, realizing Velvet was probably alone in her team tent, made her an offer. "I'm so sorry. Why don't you come stay in our tent? I would feel terrible, leaving you alone in your tent after that." Blake nodded her agreement with that arrangement.

"I'd love to, thank you." Velvet replied gratefully.

Any further conversation was cut off as Ozpin and the students arrived at the enormous command tent that Weiss and Pyrrha had been in earlier. The meeting, as far as meetings go, was short and unremarkable. Ozpin voiced his disapproval of their wish to fight, but followed that up by explaining he understood and would not force them to return home. He concluded by ordering them to return to the tent at sunrise tomorrow, and that he would have orders ready for them then, followed by a quick dismissal for the day, with orders to rest and recuperate the rest of the day as they saw fit.

Weiss turned to leave, desperate for a bath, but Blake grabbed her sleeve and stopped her from leaving. Velvet saw that they weren't leaving yet and halted her steps and waited by the entrance of the tent. When Weiss looked at Blake questioningly, Blake motioned for her to wait. Weiss saw that Nora had done the same thing to Pyrra and Jaune, to their puzzlement as well. After all the students had left, Nora noticed Weiss, Blake, and Velvet, and motioned them closer, leading everyone up to Professor Ozpin, who was facing away from them, looking at some more data on the mass of screens he had arranged along the walls of his tent.

"Um, Professor?" Nora asked, realizing that the headmaster was too absorbed in the screens to notice the students gathered behind him.

Ozpin turned at hearing Nora's voice, and looked down at her. "Ah, Miss Valkyrie. I apologize for my inattentiveness. I'm glad to see you are out of the medical tent. And I am sorry for your loss."

"Th-thank you, sir." Nora answered quietly.

"Now, to what do I owe the pleasure?" the headmaster asked.

"It's about Ruby, and team CRDL, sir." Nora's voice was quiet, and nervous.

If Professor Ozpin responded, Weiss didn't hear it because she was immediately up at the front of the group, voice raised, and bordering on frantic. "You saw Ruby? Where is she? I haven't been able to find her all morning, and- CRDL? Did CRDL do something to her? I swear, when I get my hands on them I'll-"

Blake put her hand on Weiss' shoulder, pulling her away from Nora, who was trying to back away from Weis and her barrage of questions. "Give her some time to speak, Weiss." Weiss backed down, Blake's calming touch having its desired effect.

"Sorry."

Ozpin gestured for Nora to continue. "Please continue. I've been looking for CRDL all morning as well. Do you know where they are?"

Nora was fidgeting nervously, clearly uncomfortable with what she about to reveal. "I- I uh, umm… I think," she looked up at Ozpin, then over at Weiss. "I think Ruby killed them."

Everyone's jaws dropped is disbelief at Nora's revelation. Surely this is some poor joke? Weiss thought, but Nora's watery eyes dispelled that notion. Though his jaw had not dropped, his cup of hot chocolate did stop on its journey to his mouth, leaving him holding the cup at an odd angle. "I'm sorry Miss Valkyrie, did you just say you think that Miss Rose killed team CRDL?"

"Y-yeah. I was, um, in the medical tent this morning and I thought I heard Ruby's voice in the hallway so I stopped to listen and uh I heard her mumbling something about how 'it's all CRDL's fault that Yang is gone' and some other things I couldn't hear and so I tried to follow her but then I saw her do her 'whoosh' thing," Nora waved her about animatedly to emphasize her point, " and I had no idea where she went and then I wondered around camp looking for her but I didn't have any luck and then later after that I saw her at the edge of the forest dragging something and then I tried to follow her again but I got lost and then I heard a scream and then I tried to find who screamed cause it sounded like a boy and then there was a Deathstalker and CRDL was tied up on the ground and there was screaming and-"

"Miss Valkyrie." Ozpin gently interrupted. "Pause. Take breaths. Talk slowly."

Nora took a few deep breaths. "Sorry." Ozpin nodded for her to continue. "But uh, yeah. I think what happened was that Ruby blamed CRDL for what happened to her sister, and tied them up and took them into the forest and left them for the Grimm. When I found them, they were…" Nora stopped there, leaving the others' imaginations to finish the story.

Everyone was shocked, but that was only the beginning, because Blake stepped forward. "I believe I have support for Nora's story as well." Nora looked at Blake with a look of surprise, and a not a small amount of worry, but no one saw that because they were all busy looking at Blake. "I think Ruby poisoned CRDL in order to carry them out to the forest. I had a bouquet of belladonna flowers this morning that I gathered for a gravesite, but a few of them were gone when I went to see them again." Blake explained to the faces around her, which appeared to have fallen into a permanent mask of shock and disbelief.

Jaune was the first to speak again. "No way, Ruby did that? That's just- no way. She was never cruel, she was always so chipper, doing her best to be a good person, to protect the weak!"

Weiss nodded in agreement. "Jaune's right, Ruby was never like this, there has to be another explanation." Nora was beginning to panic internally, worried that they may not believe her attempt at a cover up and investigate and discover the truth.

Pyrrha, however, provided a different take on the situation. "She just lost her sister. You heard her when we told her, she was inconsolable, and even you couldn't get her to calm down, Weiss. The doctors had to use sedatives. It's not out of the realm of reason to say that in her grief, her mind settled on CRDL as a scapegoat for the loss of her sister, and she sought revenge from there."

Nora was now panicking again, albeit for an entirely different reason now. She had taken Ruby's word that CRDL was at fault for Ren's death, what if she was wrong, and had only aided in a delusion? Velvet, who knew just as few facts as Nora, piped up with a question. "Wait, it was CRDL's fault that Yang didn't make it?"

"Not directly responsible as it were, but they were definitely a significant factor." Ozpin explained. "They ran away and left a gap in the school's defenses, which the Vacuoan soldiers took advantage of, leading to the chaotic retreat and subsequent collapse of the school."

Nora felt a wave of relief wash through her. Good, she thought. CRDL did deserve it. But Weiss brought up another topic. "Hold on, how did Ruby know about CRDL? She wasn't in a position to see them abandon us like I was, and as far as I know, none of us told her." The other students around her shook their heads, indicating they hadn't told Ruby.

Jaune came up with a possible answer, asking. "What if she was better than we thought she was this morning? Maybe she followed you to the tent went you were telling your story to Professor Ozpin?"

Weiss' face lost what little color it had. "Oh no. I think Jaune's right. One of the doctors told me that Ruby had woken up before me and was moving around just fine. And then as we," Weiss pointed at Pyrrha and herself, "were leaving this tent, I swore I smelled a rose or something. She must've eavesdropped on us."

Ozpin turned to the screens behind him, pulling out his scroll. He flicked through the scroll, eventually pulling up Ruby Rose's folder. He flagged her as a fugitive, and armed as dangerous. Ozpin turned back to the students. "This information is not to be spread to any other students, understood? The proper authorities will handle this. I will send Professor Oobleck out scouting to see if we can find what direction she went. Do not attempt to search for her or contact her yourselves." He looked pointedly at Weiss. "I understand she's your partner, but you chose to fight in this war. If you still wish to do so, then you cannot leave. If you wish to leave now and search for Ruby on your own time, I will not take the time to give you special treatment." Ozpin's voice had changed, going from a gentle professor and headmaster to the harder, more serious voice of a military commander. His voice softened slightly, knowing that Weiss was most likely feeling incredibly conflicted with the revelations about her partner. "When we find Miss Rose, she will be brought to me. After that, you will be allowed to talk to her. Is that a reasonable compromise?"

"Yes. Thank you." Weiss sniffed on the verge of tears.

"Good. Now, as I said. Go rest, relax. Tomorrow, training and assignments begin, and I have work that needs to be done before then." Ozpin shooed the student out of his tent, and went back to his work.

"This has been a really bad couple of days, you know?" Weiss complained softly to Blake. "First we lose Ren, then Yang, and now Ruby's a murderer on the run. What's happening to our teams?"

"We don't have teams anymore Weiss. No more school, remember?" Blake teased. "Just us friends, now."

"Yeah, I suppose that's true." Weiss conceded. She was about to ask for more details about Blake's side of Nora's story, but was interrupted by the roaring of an airship engine as it roared overhead towards the landing zone. "And just when I thought this weekend couldn't possibly get any worse," Weiss groaned.

Blake arched her eyebrow questioningly at Weiss, who pointed at the airship- an airship bearing the symbol of the Schnee Dust Company. "My father's here."


	5. The World Changed Today

Weiss watched with some trepidation as the Schnee airship landed in the nearest clearing. "So Blake, do you think that my father bothered to come himself, or do you think he only sent his servants?" Weiss' voice was dripping with distaste for her father. Blake remembered when Weiss was proud of her father's company, if not her father, but the years had turned that pride into annoyance and then disgust, leading to an escalation of her conflicts with her father. They hadn't spoken in nearly two years, since a couple months after Weiss first entered Beacon Academy. Even during vacations, Weiss had opted to instead join Blake in visiting Yang and Ruby's home, and their father. The sisters' father owned a large house, settled in an enormous plot of land covered in a huge variety trees and flowers and other foliage.

Velvet looked over at Weiss, asking "You don't get along with your father?"

Blake actually laughed out loud for a breath. "That's an understatement. The last time they talked two years ago was a fight to remember, and that that was only over a scroll. I can't wait to see what happens in person."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Thanks for your support, Blake."

Blake gave Weiss a small smile. "Oh, you know I'm here if you need me, Snow Angel." Blake knew Weiss resented Yang's nickname for her.

Any further conversation was cut short as the side door of the ship opened, allowing a duo of well dressed men in fine butler's attire to exit trough the doorway. Following behind the two was a man in a crisp, light grey suit, with short, silvery hair that was slicked back cleanly. He was just a hair under six feet tall, with a hard face and lightly tanned skin that was only just beginning to show signs of aging with the start of some wrinkles around the eyes. Blake and Velvet assumed that this man was Weiss' father, owner and CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, and glancing at Weiss and seeing her glare was enough to support their assumption- this man was Kälte Schnee. Kälte scanned the crowd as his two servants situated themselves behind and on either side of him, ready to act on his wishes. His eyes soon found Weiss, and he directed one of his attendants towards her as he waited next to the now landed airship. Blake would've had to been blind to not see Weiss' nostrils flare in anger as the servant approached, the gathered crowd parting to make way for the approaching young man.

The servant stopped in front of the trio of girls, before bowing at a precise thirty degree and placing one hand over his heart as a salute. "Lady Schnee, your father requests that you accompany him back to Schnee Manor." He maintained his bowing position, waiting for Weiss to begin walking so he could follow behind.

Weiss couldn't see herself, but she was certain that if she could see herself she would have steam coming off of her in her rage. "Well," Weiss began, "you can tell my father that if he wishes to request something of me, he can come request it in person." Weiss' voice was ice by the time she was done speaking. The servant glanced up nervously, unsure of how her father would take such a response. "Well? Get on with it."

"…of course, my lady." The servant straightened up before walking briskly walking back towards his employer. As he arrived and conveyed Weiss' words, her father's composed face of a businessman reddened in anger. Looking up from the servant at Weiss, he strode purposefully towards his daughter, the two servants falling into place behind him and following along. The crowd gave the glowering CEO far more room than they did than when the servant had passed earlier. Weiss took up a defiant posture with her arms crossed, shoulders back, weight shifted mostly onto one leg.

"Weiss." Her father stopped in front of the heiress, looking down at his daughter and desperately trying to ignore the two faunas to her side. "You're coming home with me. Now."

"Good afternoon to you as well, father." Weiss replied. "And I'll be staying here. I have training to complete and a war to fight, for your information."

"You are the heiress to the Schnee name and company, and I cannot afford to have you off fooling around in some camp pretending to be a soldier." Kälte reached down and grabbed Weiss, yanking her by the wrist towards him.

Before he could take a step and start dragging his daughter along, he felt a sharp pain in his wrist, causing him to reflexively let go to cradle his wrist with his other hand in an attempt to soothe the blooming pain. He turned and looked back at his daughter, only to find Blake standing in front of her protectively. "You would dare attack me, animal?" Kälte raised a fist to strike out at the faunus girl standing in front of him.

He was forced to stop though, lest he impale himself on the point of Myrtenaster, the weapon's point suddenly uncomfortably close to piercing his throat. Weiss' voice was no longer ice as it was just moments ago; it now came out as fire. "If you raise a hand against my friends again, I will show what the Schnee heiress can do." She pressed her weapon forward, forcing her father to step backwards with it as he lowered his hands. "You come and speak to me after two years, not worried as a father, but as a businessman. Wouldn't want the family to lose the business, right?" Weiss continued walking her father backward. "In less than twenty-four hours, I've lost my home, my classmates, my friends. I am not going off to play soldier. I want revenge, and to fight for my home and loved ones." Kälte was having trouble backing up as fast as his daughter was walking forward. "But of course, what would you know of loved ones? Mother left you years ago, and you probably wouldn't have noticed if the divorce hadn't cost you money. And despite my best efforts, you've managed to drive me to hate you too. It's impressive, your dedication to destroying your own family, it truly is." Weiss had driven her father all the way back to the airship he had arrived in, causing him to trip and fall into it because he was too worried about Myrtenaster to worry about watching where he was going. "If you don't mind, I have to get cleaned up. It would be much appreciated if you didn't bother us here again. Good day, sir." Weiss replaced her weapon at her hip and turned to the two servants who had been quietly following along, unwilling to interrupt the argument between the two Schnee family members. "And you two, excellent work. Please be sure to escort my father away from this encampment. Or at the very least, away from me." Turning on her heel, Weiss strode back to her friends. "I'm sorry for that… scene, there." Weiss tried to flatten some wrinkles out of her skirt. "Would you mind showing us where we could clean up, Blake?"

Blake nodded, a smile on her face. "Sure thing. Let's go find Pyrrha and Nora then grab a change of clothes first."

Kälte Schnee could only stare in shock as his daughter left him behind, an entire crowd of students and soldiers staring at the two. He stood up numbly, and motioned for the two servants to come aboard the ship and close the doors. The ship didn't take off though, only sat in the landing zone, door closed, hiding Kälte Schnee and his servants away from onlookers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That was certainly a show." Professor Ozpin had heard the airship landing and wandered outside to discover who it was, only to find Kälte and Weiss Schnee engaging in an argument.

"They could've handled it better, certainly, and maybe in a less public place." Glynda responded, having walked up beside Ozpin during the argument.

"Did I miss something interesting?" Both professors turned to find their colleague, Professor Oobleck, standing behind them.

"An interesting argument. Interesting, but not important." Ozpin answered while handing over a cup of coffee to Oobleck. "I need you to find Ruby Rose, by the way." Both the other professors looked at him curiously.

"Is she missing from camp?" Glynda asked.

Professor Ozpin nodded. "I've been given reason to believe she kidnapped and killed team CRDL in the forest, then fled and is now on the run." The matter-of-fact tone of his explanation conflicted with the severity of the news.

"Good for her. I never liked them anyways." Oobleck muttered as he sipped coffee.

"Professor!" Glynda exclaimed. Oobleck held up his hands in an attempt to avoid a scolding.

"Well, regardless of our feelings on the matter, I need you to look for her." Ozpin interjected.

"Yes, yes. I'll leave after this cup of coffee." Oobleck assured the others.

"Excellent. And Glynda, I need you to make some calls to bring I more experienced huntsman and huntresses to train the students who are staying." Ozpin said.

"Any in particular, or whoever is available?" Glynda asked, pulling out her scroll.

"I have a list in the tent."

"I'll go work on contacting them then." Glynda turned and entered the tent.

"Well, I'll begin searching for Miss Rose then." Oobleck added, taking one last swig from the coffee.

Ozpin took the empty cup back from Oobleck, and ordered "Search as much as you can, but be back around or before sundown. I have more I wish to discuss with you."

"Of course, headmaster." Then Oobleck disappeared into the direction of the forest, nothing more than a blur to most who managed to glimpse him.

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Blake was leading the group of girls through the edge of the forest towards the creek she had bathed earlier that morning. Pyrrha had wanted Jaune to come along to bathe farther up the creek, but had been overruled by Weiss, Velvet, and Nora. As they neared the creek, Blake pointed forward. "It's just past the last bit of trees, over there." Moments later the group passed the last line of trees and they found themselves standing at the edge of a gently burbling creek, its shining surface reflecting the afternoon sunlight.

"It's pretty!" Velvet exclaimed as she admired the water. The water was shallow, barely coming up to their waists if they were to wade in. Velvet knelt down, running her hand through the water. "And it's not too cold, either." Velvet sounded gleeful.

Weiss spotted Blake's normal attire hanging off a long tree branch over the creek. Looking around, she found other branches they could use to hang up their clothes if they chose to wash them. Which of course Weiss did. After a bath. Walking down to the water's edge, Nora promptly began undressing and laying her clothes on a large rock. Weiss opened her mouth in shock. "Nora! Have you no decency?"

Nora looked back at Weiss, confused. "What's the problem? We're all girls here. This is just like a locker room shower. Without stalls. Outside." She Weiss up and down, pointedly staring at Weiss' chest for a few seconds before looking back up at her face. "Or are you embarrassed?" Nora finished with a smile.

Weiss brought her arms up to cover her chest. "Of course not you barbarian!" But her flushing face betrayed her, as the rest of the group giggled around her, the much needed laugh finally allowing them to release some of their built up tension.

"Come on Weiss, Let's just get clean." Pyrrha said with a smile, leading Weiss by the arm. Weiss huffed, but obliged and allowed herself to be led.

"I'm going to be over there while you guys get cleaned up, okay?" Blake informed the group while pointing past a bend in the creek. "I'll leave your change of clothes on these rocks here." She set down the clothes that she had been carrying in a bag at the base of one of the larger trees, before she started off towards the bend.

The others all thanked her as she walked away and they were all undressing and wading into the creek to begin their ministrations and cleaning. Seeing everyone without their clothes provided Weiss a view of more of the injuries they had been hiding beneath their clothes. Weiss herself had only some bruising and minor cuts, and was relatively undamaged compared to the others. Pyrrha had bad bruising in many of the areas her armor covered, likely an unfortunate effect of protecting her from attacks and explosions. Nora had scrapes and cuts covering much of her body, and her back had two large, painful looking bruises that looked suspiciously uniform, which made Weiss realize they were probably bruises from when Ren had pushed her out of the way of the collapsing ceiling with great force. Velvet had a surprising amount of damage, more than Weiss had initially thought; Velvet was not only the missing portion of one of her rabbit ears and few bandages Weiss had seen earlier, but nearly the entire left side of her torso, upper left arm, and upper left leg was covered in bandages. Everyone was shocked, and immediately asked her what had happened.

"These are all burns." Velvet explained. "I got caught in an explosion. I can't get in the water, because I'm not supposed to get these wet." She sat down on the edge of a rock, dangling her feet in the creek. "Could someone hand me one of those towels so I can wash myself?" Velvet asked sweetly. Weiss handed her a towel and the one soap bar they had, and saw Velvet wince as she reached up with her arm to grab the cleaning materials with thanks.

Nora didn't miss the wince, and offered "Velvet, just relax a moment and once I finish up really quick I'll help you wash so you don't hurt yourself, okay? Just lay back and relax."

Velvet blushed slightly, and Weiss saw her look in the direction Blake had walked, obviously preferring someone who had already been physically close to her to assist her. Seeing this caused Weiss to blush again. "Um, uh, okay. Thank you, Nora." Velvet saw Weiss blushing. "Are you okay Weiss?"

Weiss nodded, and then gave her head a vigorous shake to clear it. "Uh, it's nothing. Just remembered something." Weiss walked into the water before Velvet could have a chance to question her about it. Nora finished bathing and washing her clothes in just a few minutes, after which she waded over to Velvet and began using a towel to wash the areas Velvet had trouble reaching due to her injuries. Velvet began blushing furiously and closed her eyes, fully aware that Nora had elected to not clothe herself before assisting her. While Nora washed Velvet, Pyrrha grabbed Velvet's clothes and washed them for her, hanging them up next to her own.

Just a couple hours later, the girls had all finished bathing and washing clothes, and had hung them up to dry, dressing in the fresh clothes they had brought from the supply tent. Weiss had grabbed a pair of white slacks, with a very light sky blue blouse with shorter sleeves. Pyrrha was wearing blue jeans with a golden-yellow men's dress shirt, the top two buttons undone and sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Nora had elected for pink short shorts and a forest green tank top, reminding Weiss of a watermelon. Velvet had chosen of a pair of black sweatpants with a loose sweater, explaining that tighter clothes were painful to wear with her current injuries.

Once everyone was dressed, Weiss asked everyone "Has anyone seen Blake?" Everyone shook their heads. "She's probably still somewhere around the bend then. Let's go find her, okay?" The group of girls started walking along the edge of the creek in the direction they had seen Blake walking. They had only been walking a few minutes when they came across the adorable sight of Blake napping in a small patch of sunlight, curled up into a ball next to a stone protruding out of the ground with some blue and purple flowers on top. As they approached, Velvet reached out to stop them, pointing. Weiss thought at first that Velvet was pointing at Blake's twitching ears, but then Weiss saw that engraved carefully and neatly into the stone was the name "Yang Xiao Long." The group stopped walking, unsure of how to approach, but Nora continued walking forward toward Blake. Kneeling next to Blake, Nora gently tapped her shoulder, waking Blake up. Weiss could see faint lines shimmering on her face from the sunlight around Blake, the shining trails the only signs that tears had recently made their way down her face.

"Oh, is everyone done? I'm sorry, I fell asleep." Blake apologized as she sat up and wiped her face with the cuff of her kimono.

Nora hugged Blake, saying "No worries, we just finished." Nora then whispered something into Blake's ear that Weiss didn't hear, but Velvet must've heard her because her eyes widened slightly and her ears twitched.

Weiss leaned over, "What did she ask?"

Before Velvet could respond though, Blake had answered Nora's whispered question. "Of course, there's a bunch just over here." Blake led Nora to the water's edge nearby, and Nora jumped around, looking at large rocks. Picking one quickly, Nora bound back up to the rest of the group, laying her stone in the same patch of sunlight where the other one rested. She used another, smaller rock and began scratching something into the stone as she crouched over it. A few minutes later, she stepped back, and the rest of the group could see that this new stone had the name "Lie Ren" scratched into it, much less elegantly than Yang's name had been, but with no less love.

With small smiles on their faces, everyone bowed their heads in silence before the two stones, paying their respects to their fallen friends before leaving this idyllic piece of nature they had found to make their way back to their camp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Professor Oobleck was standing in a forest clearing, looking at the multitudes of bloodstains and scraps of armor and clothing on the ground around him. The blood looked like it had only been here for a few hours, mostly likely spilled this morning as the headmaster said. The ripped and torn clothing wasn't consistent with damage that Crescent Rose inflicts though, which seemed to contradict the information he was given about Ruby Rose killing team CRDL. On the other hand, there were scraps of rope intermingled with everything else, supporting the information that the young huntress had kidnapped the four boys. "But if Miss Rose didn't kill them…" He heard skittering and hissing noises coming from the nearby cave, and turned to look at the source of the easily recognizable noise, and was rewarded with an emerging Deathstalker. Oobleck examined the Deathstalker as it charged, and noted the bloodstains and ripped clothing decorating its mouth and pincers. "Ah, there we go. Problem solved."

As the giant scorpion lunged with its claws at Oobleck, he vanished in a blur, leaving the pincers grasping at air. Before the Deathstalker could register the lack of prey in its grip, and blur of movement slammed into one of its legs on its right side, destroying the exoskeleton and buckling the leg. The Grimm scorpion responded by lashing out with its tail as it turned, hoping to smash and impale its attacker. The Deathstalker only managed to drive its stinger into the ground, momentarily trapping the tail. As it struggled to pull its tail back out, it felt its prey slam into its leg again, this time on its left, and then another one of its legs on the same side again before it could extract its tail and attempt to defend itself. Backing away clumsily, the Deathstalker was more interested in retreating from this unarmed yet terrifying huntsman than attacking him anymore.

Not interested in letting up his attack, Oobleck dashed forward before the Deathstalker could get its guard up and drove his clenched fist through one of its many eyes, burying his arm up to his elbow. With a wild screech, the Deathstalker brought its claws in front of it in an attempt to catch Oobleck, but he had already disappeared in a blur. Holding its claws in front of it to prevent further damage to its eyes, the Deathstalker continued backing away towards its cave. This only gave Oobleck the opportunity to attack the joints in the Deathstalker's arms without reservation, shattering the first joints as he repeatedly slammed his fists into them at high speed, shattering one and then the other, leaving them hanging limp and dragging on the ground as the Deathstalker continued to try to back away on its three remaining legs.

With the destruction of the Deathstalker's arms, Oobleck finally had a clean opening to attack the Deathstalker head on. Reinforcing his body with his aura, he smashed into the scorpion's skull plate, fists leading, and caved in the Grimm's skull. Oobleck pulled his arms back and took a few steps back as the Deathstalker convulsed on the ground. "Disgusting, truly disgusting." He shook his arms in an attempt to dislodge some of the scorpion's fluids and innards off of his arms, reluctant to wait the few minutes it would take for the Grimm's body to naturally dissolve away into nothing. The entire fight had taken only seconds, but to Oobleck's skewed sense of time it felt as if much time had been wasted. Returning to the clearing he gathered up what pieces of armor and clothing he could find and places them into a bag, and slung it over his shoulder. "Now to try and see what direction Miss Rose went." Oobleck started off into the woods, trying to find any sign of someone departing in a different direction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weiss was sitting in the mess tent with the others, cleaning her nails. She didn't have the proper materials earlier, but going through the donations from the city had proved fruitful and she was able to find what she needed to maintain her nails. The other girls were still eating, making idle chatter. Jaune had gotten directions from Blake on where to go to find the creek to clean since Pyrrha refused to let him hug her until he cleaned up. He would be back soon, but until then it was just the girls. Weiss blew on her nails, examining them; there were still a few spots she could clean up with better tools and more time, but for now what she had done would suffice. Some movement at the corner of her eye caught her attention, and Weiss looked up at Pyrrha to see her waving over a now clean Jaune, who had just entered the tent. Weiss and Pyrrha scooted over to make room for Jaune to sit next to them, but he stood behind Pyrrha instead.

He bent over slightly to place a quick kiss on Pyrrha's head. "Hey guys. You see the commotion outside?" Pyrrha snaked her arms up towards Jaune's, holding his arms affectionately as h placed his hands on her shoulders.

"What's going on outside?" Pyrrha asked as she held Jaune's hands.

"A bunch of big shuttles or buses or something are parked at the edge of camp. Professor Goodwitch is over there too." Jaune explained.

"Professor Ozpin did say some of our parents were coming, maybe they took transport from Vale?" Blake suggested.

"True. Should we go take a look?" Pyrrha stood up and took Jaune's hand, leading the way.

Blake looked at Weiss and shrugged. "You wanna go to support them? I know it's not like our parents are going to be there for us to meet." Weiss shrugged along with Blake, and then nodded.

"You don't think your parents are coming Blake?" Nora asked as she stood up to leave with the rest. "I think my father will definitely be out there, he's always been too overprotective of me."

"My parents passed away when I was a child." Blake explained. "So I'd be very surprised if they showed up, for more than one reason." Blake finished with a chuckle.

"Oh. Sorry."

"No worries. Shall we?" Blake led the remaining members of their little group out of the tent.

Upon exiting the tent, the small group could see a crowd of adults gathered outside of the shuttles, standing in a line in front of Professor Goodwitch, who was taking the names down to confirm identities of the parents. The parents that had already been cleared were standing apart from the rest, searching the camp for their children. Some had wandered away from the buses to search elsewhere, but it looked like most chose to remain near the buses, using it as an easy to find landmark for their students. One man stood above the rest, and Weiss, Blake, and Velvet felt that using the word "mountain" was an entirely accurately description for this man. Everything about this man just said big. He was nearly seven feet tall, with wide shoulders and bulging arms and had biceps thicker than Weiss' waist. His legs looked liked tree trunks, barely contained in the jeans covering them, and his feet left deep imprints in the ground when he walked. They could also see that he had a long, thick, tangled mane of hair and beard which was a mix of red and orange with hints of grey coming in. Both the hair and beard spilled down over an enormous belly that threatened to break the buttons of his flannel shirt making it difficult to see where one ended and the other began. His mountainous build made him a center of attention, with many students stopping to gawk at the giant of a man, who was searching the crowd frantically.

"Seeing him makes me feel like less of a man." Jaune commented, rubbing his hand across his hairless jaw. Pyrrha only giggled, commenting that if Jaune ever grew a beard she wouldn't kiss him until he shaved it back off.

Nora, who was busy looking at the line of parents behind Professor Goodwitch, turned to see who Jaune was referring to. Her eyes brightened upon laying her eyes on the giant, and she exclaimed "Father!" Then ran off in his direction.

Jaune's jaw dropped, accompanied by the jaws of the rest of the group. "That Nora's father?"

"I guess she must take after her mother." Velvet commented, noting the vast ocean of a difference in sizes between the father and daughter.

Nora's father heard his daughter, and his head darted around even faster, beard and hair flying every which way. "Nora! Where are ye, me girl?" Nora's father's voice boomed out above the crowd, loud as a war horn. He then saw Nora running at him, and opened his arms wide as she leapt into the air, then latched to his chest and buried her head into his beard as he wrapped his arms around her to hug her tight. "Nora, me girl! Tis' great to see you safe." He held her out at arm's length and turned her side to side, giving Nora the appearance of a doll in her father's hands. "Ye're not hurt are you?"

"No father, no bad injuries." Nora hugged him tightly again as he brought her back against him. "Um, are Ren's parents with you?" Nora asked nervously.

Her father looked down at her, worried at the change he heard in her voice. He set her down and turned around, and pointed a thumb at a shorter couple standing behind him, hidden behind his massive bulk. The couple, while not short, was dwarfed by Nora's father. They wore very traditional looking robes of very earthy colors, mostly browns and greens with some stitched lotus designs that Nora's friends immediately recognized as the symbol Ren used as his family crest. Ren's father had his waist length hair intricately braided, with rough, lightly tanned skin. Ren's mother styled her hair into a loose bun with a silver hairclip, her skin smooth and pale. Ren had looked so much like his parents that even had it not been pointed out to them, Weiss and Blake would've immediately recognized them as such. Both parents were looking around behind Nora, expecting to find their son with or near his fiancée.

Nora walked slowly up to them, and as she approached them their eyes stopped searching and focused on their future daughter-in-law. Nora clasped her hands in front of her, intertwining her fingers, and spoke more seriously and sadly than any of her gathered friends had ever heard her speak before. "Lie Zhànshì," she spoke, looking at Ren father, "Lie Huā," she spoke, looking at Ren's mother, "I'm sorry." Nora fell to her knees, and bent over at the waist to put her forehead to the back of her hands on the ground, bowing in front of her future in-laws. "Ren was protecting me," Nora sobbed, still bowed. "And he didn't make it. I understand if you don't forgive me. I'm so sorry." Nora kept her head down, still crying against the grass under her.

Ren's parents looked down at her, their gazes unaffected, as if Nora had just told them that Ren was just out getting some food. For another few moments they stared, before their exteriors began to crack- a tear flowing down Lie Huā's cheek, a trembling in Lie Zhànshì's shoulders. Both parents kneeled and gently sat down on their knees in front of Nora. Ren's mother reached out and grabbed Nora's shoulder, lifting her from the ground into a sitting position. "He died protecting you?" She asked, looking Nora in her eyes.

"Y-yes. When we were trying to escape from Beacon." Nora managed to still speak through her tears.

"Then he died well." Huā pulled Nora into a hug, letting Nora cry into her shoulder. "We are proud of our son." A few more tears fell down Huā's cheeks as she held Nora tight.

Nora's father walked up to Zhànshì, and placed one of his enormous hands on his back and shoulder. "I'm sorry, old friend. Ren was a good lad." Ren's father nodded his head in appreciation as he attempted to keep his emotions in check, unwilling to let his feelings show in this place.

Zhànshì knelt down to lift Nora and his wife up off the ground, embracing them both. "There is nothing to forgive Nora. We trust our son knew what he was doing." He released the two women from his embrace. "You're not hurt then?" Nora shook her head. "That's good to hear." Ren's father turned to Nora's father and said, "Thrym, would you care to join us for a drink? My wife and I must perform our family's ceremonies for our son, and your company would be appreciated."

"Of course, of course. It shall be me honor." The giant of a man pounded a fist against his chest along with his response.

Nora finally separated from Huā, and said to the two fathers, "I already set up a place for a small shrine where we can do the ceremonies." The parents nodded, and waited for Nora to lead the way. Nora ran over to Blake first, and asked, "You don't mind if they see that spot, right? It'll just be for today, then-"

"Of course it's okay Nora." Blake said. "Go on, I'm sure Yang doesn't mind." Blake finished with a smile.

"Thank you so much." Nora hugged Blake before leading her father and Ren's parents off towards the creek in the forest where she had built a small memorial for Ren, next to Yang's.

Weiss turned away from the saddening scene to Blake, deciding that discussing the fact that many parents would be receiving bad news today was not necessary, given what they'd already been through. "I'm fairly certain Nora's father could've carried all of Beacon Academy oh his back." Weiss opted to try for a little humor instead.

Blake laughed. "Most likely. I've never seen such a giant of a man." Blake looked around until something caught her gaze. "Oh my, it seems Jaune has quite the large family." Weiss and Velvet followed Blake's gaze, and saw that at some point during Nora's encounter with her and Ren's parents, Jaune's family had shown up, and Jaune had gone with Pyrrha to meet them. Blake's observation was right on the nose, with what appeared to be nearly a dozen people of various ages, ranging from young children to adults to older relatives, all startling blond. Jaune appeared to be introducing Pyrrha to his family for the first time, as they were all asking her questions as she blushed and stuttered her responses. "Poor girl."

Velvet ears were twitching, and she looked around searchingly. "Is something wrong, Velvet?" Weiss asked.

"I think I can hear my mom." Velvet replied, looking around. "Over there, in line." She turned to Weiss and Blake, asking "I'm going to go talk to her, alright?" Weiss and Blake smiled and nodded their understanding as Velvet jogged off to meet her mother.

With the rest of their group off meeting their own parents, Weiss and Blake were left standing alone. "Shall we go back to our table? I can do your nails with the tools I found." Weiss offered.

"Sure, why not." Blake laughed.

As the two girls walked back to their mess tent, they heard a man's voice coming from behind them, towards where the parents were gathered. "Blake! Weiss!" Weiss didn't recognize the voice immediately, but Blake immediately froze up and stopped walking. Weiss turned around, looking for the source of the voice, and was greeted by a tall, fit man with short, dark blond hair. He was wearing black slacks and a white, long sleeve shirt, over which there was a long, brown, worn leather coat flapping behind him as he ran towards the two girls. Weiss didn't recognize the voice like Blake had, but seeing the man she recognized him as the father of Yang and Ruby, Jīn Long. Weiss immediately panicked, not sure if she was able to handle telling another person that Yang had died, and now with Ruby being a murderer on the run on top of that. "I'm so glad to see you two! I've just gotten off the shuttles." He stopped to catch his breath. "You two aren't hurt right? That's good. Do you know where my daughters are?"

Blake had finally turned around, and directed her gaze at Weiss, her eyes filled with the same panic that Weiss was sure was in her eyes. Blake broke their gaze first, looking at Jīn Long, and said "Why don't we come this way? So we can have a seat."

Jīn Long didn't move. "Blake?" He looked between the girls. "I know you well enough to see something isn't right. What's happened to my daughters?" His eyes darted between the two, clearly distressed. "Weiss?"

Weiss looked at Blake, who reached over to grab Jīn Long's hand. "Mr. Long, I'm so sorry. Yang didn't make it out of Beacon." Blake had tears leaking out of her eyes again, but she kept her gaze strong as she looked at the blond man she had grown to see as her own father over the last couple years. Weiss could see the light behind his eyes start to fade as he heard the news. "I'm so, so sorry. She saved everyone, but didn't make it, and..." Blake couldn't finish her sentence, with nothing to say to ease this man's pain.

Jīn fell to his knees in front of Blake, still holding her hands in his. "Yang is gone?" His back straightened as he began looking around. "Ruby? Where's Ruby? She needs me, Without Yang she won't be in good shape."

He made to move away, but Blake stopped him. "Ruby isn't here either," Blake started, "she blamed another team of students for losing Yang, and she killed them. She's on the run, and we don't know where she went."

What little light and hope that Weiss could see in the father's eyes faded away with abrupt finality. "Both my daughters are… gone?" Weiss couldn't imagine what this man was going through. Ruby had told her about her family history one vacation at their home, while going for a walk through their property. Jīn Long had married a woman, Yang's mother, and had a happy relationship until she had gotten pregnant. She didn't want the child, but Jīn had convinced her to keep it. After giving birth, she had tried to love the child but just a couple months in she couldn't bring herself to love her child and had left the family, divorcing yang's father at the same time. Jīn Long was devastated, but had made it through by focusing on being a great father to Yang. Soon after that he had a whirlwind romance with Summer Rose, Ruby's mother, which resulted in their marriage and with Ruby's birth soon after that. For years they had lived happily together, until death claimed Summer Rose. Weiss wasn't sure of the details of Summer's death, but knew that it was devastating to the family, Jīn having lost a second wife, and Yang and Ruby losing their mother. And now, Jīn Long was being told that one daughter was dead, and the other gone and a murderer. In just seconds had lost what was left of his family, and was alone in the world.

Blake picked up the man and lifted him to his feet, hugging him close. Weiss joined them; she was not as close with him as Blake was, but still liked and felt sorry for the man regardless. "Come on," Weiss said, "let's go sit down." Weiss led his open but unseeing eyes to the mess tent, back to their table. Sitting him down, Weiss tried to comfort the man who had been broken beyond tears, but couldn't find the words to say. "We'll find her, and bring Ruby back to you, okay? She won't be gone forever."

He sat in silence for a long time, just staring at the table in front of him. Weiss and Blake sat with him, not willing to interrupt his thoughts. Blake was holding his hand in an attempt to comfort him, but if he noticed he gave no indication. Eventually, he blinked his eyes and looked at the girls around him. "I'm sorry for my… breakdown. You must be hurting too; this is no time for me to do this." He turns and looks at Blake, saying "It is especially unfair to you. You are my daughter-in-law, after all. I should be here for you, not the other way around."

Blake blinked in surprise. "Daughter-in-law?" Weiss was also confused. Was he associating Blake dating Yang as marriage?

He smiled a sad smile. "Yang isn't very good at hiding things. I found the paperwork when I was cleaning her desk after you two left this summer. I know you two got married."

Blake giggled as some more tears fell. "I knew something like this would happen. We wanted to wait to tell people until we had time for a ceremony."

Weiss was shocked. "You got married and didn't tell me?"

"We didn't tell anyone, including you and Ruby. It was going to be a secret until we graduated."

Weiss felt a little less left out, but was still annoyed she didn't know. "Oh. I guess I can understand that."

Jīn Long stood up from the table. "I should get going. I need to set up a funeral, search for Ruby…" He stopped as Blake gave him directions to the small memorial tombstone she made for Yang, if he was interested. "Thank you, Blake. I'll go pay my respects before I leave." He hugged Blake, "and you too, Weiss. I know Ruby was very fond of you." He hugged Weiss as well. "You both are welcome at my home anytime. I'll be going now, stay safe girls."

Blake and Weiss watched and Jīn Long left, walking back towards the buses, boarding one leaving back for Vale. "Father, huh?" Weiss said. "I guess you have family now, right?"

Blake smiled again. "Yeah. I guess I do." She wiped her cheeks and eyes to clear her tears. "Would you mind if we went back to our tent? I'd like to lie down."

"Yeah, sure." Weiss replied. As they walked out of the tent, Velvet came up to them, holding a small paper bag. "Hey, Velvet. How was your mother?" Weiss asked.

"She's good. She wants me to leave, but I told her I was staying." She held up the paper bag. "She brought me snacks though! Let's share them later." She looked over her shoulder in the direction that Jīn Long went. "Did you know that man? I saw you with him but I didn't want to interrupt."

"He's Yang and Ruby's father." Blake explained. "He didn't know what happened."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried into it."

"It's no problem." Blake replied with a smile. "We're going back to our tent; would you like to come with us? You can move your things into our tent."

"That sounds good. I'll go get my stuff and meet you there, okay?" Velvet said before she jogged off.

Weiss and Blake walked in silence back to their tent, and began organizing their sleeping supplies for sleeping and resting the rest of the day. Velvet joined them soon after they began and moved in her own supplies, assisting with the cleanup, making small talk.

"What do you think our orders will be?" "Remember that time when…" "How do you think we will be trained?" "Do you think we'll still be fighting Grimm too?"

Most of their questions were just small talk, jokes, speculation, with a hint of snacking, but all this was necessary noise to fill the silence as they worked the rest of the daylight away. Once they finished setting up, they all settled under the covers, cuddling up next to one another, sharing their warmth and company. As they lay in silence, they began to feel a weight settling on them as the events of the last couple days began sinking in. Beacon, their teammates, their lovers, their friends, their parents, their new duty, everything. Finally having a chance to think about everything was daunting, as they realized the magnitude of what was happening around them in the world.

Velvet was the first to speak up in a whisper. "Everything's going to be different now, isn't it?"

"…Yeah." Blake replied softly.

"The world changed today." Weiss continued. "And I have no idea what's coming next."

"I don't think any of us do." Blake added.

Velvet curled her back up into Blake's front, looking for comfort and warmth that she needed at this moment. Blake put her arm around the rabbit faunus in an effort to comfort her as Weiss contemplated what to do. Weiss was normally unwilling to look so weak as to need comfort in front of others, but gave in when Blake reached over to pull Weiss' arm around herself, causing the heiress' arm to wrap around Blake's stomach as Blake in turn curled up against her. Like this, the three girls slept and hoped that tomorrow would bring some comfort and order back into their lives.


	6. Students No Longer

It was midnight, and the full moon filtered down through branches onto a red cloak that was tightly curled around a little girl lying down under a makeshift shelter of branches and leaves, her chest slowly rising and falling with each small breath. Ruby Rose had elected not to light a fire, because she was worried about the light giving her away in the dark forest. Unfortunately, that left a light chill in the air of her little shelter, even though it provided protection the blowing wind. She was comfortable in the cold though, and her cloak provided what warmth was absolutely necessary for the young huntress. Ruby had been running all day, making good time and running farther than she figured anyone would think to look, all while making sure to cover her tracks and leave false trails for anyone who might be following her. She suspected that some people would be sent after her eventually, especially once Nora and Blake told Professor Ozpin what she had done to team CRDL. Ruby fully believed what had been done to them was completely justified, and the small voice in her head had trying to speak to her all day.

_How could you do that to them? They weren't the ones who attacked Beacon._

_What would your father think of you? Yang? Your Mother? Uncle Qrow?_

All day the small voice kept speaking to Ruby Rose, telling her she should turn herself in for what she's done, that what she did, and what she was doing now by running, were wrong. And all day Ruby Rose kept crushing the voice under her mental foot, yelling back that she had done nothing to apologize for. And after an entire day of squashing the voice, eventually it had gone quiet, vanishing with a quiet whimper, that Ruby felt sounded familiar, but she couldn't quiet place. Maybe a younger, more naïve, Ruby once had made that sound, a Ruby that had wanted to save the world and protect people from monsters. Ruby couldn't protect her sister from monsters though, because she hadn't realized that not all monsters were Grimm.

As she slept, Ruby began hearing another voice, filling the void the quiet voice once occupied in her mind. This new voice, only a whisper, was somehow louder in Ruby's mind than the earlier voice. The whisper was seductive, its breathiness promising a way out of her heart-wrenching pain.

_It wasn't just CRDL that killed your sister._

Ruby whimpered in her sleep, unwilling to listen to this voice. Ruby knew what the voice wanted to say next, that it was also Ruby's fault for failing as a leader, and as a sister. But the voice surprised Ruby.

_The soldiers are to blame. We need to find where they came from._

Ruby paused her thoughts. Not her fault? The soldiers' fault? Not her fault. The soldiers' fault. The soldiers killed Yang.

_Find the soldiers. Make them regret ever hurting you and your sister._

Ruby's eyes opened, her silver eyes reflecting the moonlight, giving them an otherworldly glow. "…Not my fault. Make them pay." She whispered.

Ruby closed her eyes again, hoping for a few more hours sleep before she had to start running again, but now with a different goal in mind. A snapping twig immediately brought her eyes open again. Ruby looked around with her eyes, unwilling to move and risk making a noise that may alert whoever or whatever was making a noise nearby. She waited, and noted soft steps approaching her from the left side of her small shelter. It didn't sound like a person walking- an animal? A Grimm? She quietly moved her hand over to grasp Crescent Rose its perch from next to her, and gently brought it up to her chest, ready to deploy. The footsteps stopped near her shelter, and she heard whatever the creature was sniff the air heavily. Ruby tensed and held her breath. Then she heard the creature stomp and grind its hooves outside her shelter, snorting, before suddenly fleeing and running away from her shelter, leaving Ruby alone in the dark.

Ruby Rose let out a sigh of relief as she set her weapon aside and turned over to return to sleep. She wrapped her cloak back around herself, and rolled back to her right side. Right when she lay her head back down onto the tree trunk, she saw red eyes staring at her through the gaps in her shelter. As her eyes widened in surprise, the Beowolves roared and attacked, smashing Ruby's shelter around her as blood sprayed in the air, painting the tree her shattered shelter once rested against red.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Good evening Glynda. Did you manage to contact everyone on the list?" Professor Ozpin asked Glynda Goodwitch as she returned from her tent, eyes down, reading her scroll.

Glynda Goodwitch nodded curtly as she continued reading the profiles of the huntsman and huntresses she had contacted on her scroll. "I did. Though I must say, you certainly picked a strange group of hunters to train our students." She flicked her hands, moving profiles around. "Like this one here. Vimentis. His combat scores from when he was a student were terrible, barely passing. And his combat record isn't stellar either." She moved around some of the windows again. "This one I understand, but this one? And…" she moved more windows around again.

Ozpin interrupted before she could continue to rant about the hunters he had chosen. "I picked each one for a specific reason Glynda, not just because they were available. They each have their purpose." He set down his scroll and removed his glasses, rubbing his eyes. "We really should get some sleep tonight. Has Barty reported back in yet? He didn't show up at sundown like I asked." Professor Ozpin could almost feel the disapproval from Glynda at calling Professor Oobleck 'Barty' radiating off of her.

"He did, but through scroll. Check your messages." She replied curtly.

"Ah." Professor Ozpin opened up his messages that he had ignored in favor of other work. Oobleck's message was short, informing Ozpin he had found the remains of CRDL and destroyed the Deathstalker that had killed them. He ended the report by writing that he was following the trail left by Ruby Rose. "I see. Well hopefully he returns sometimes this night."

As soon as Ozpin finished talking, there was a flurry of movement outside the tent, and Professor Oobleck strode in with a bag on his back, his shirt and pants torn, his skin scratched here and there. "I've returned, Headmaster." He looked at Glynda, nodding his head in greeting. "Professor Goodwitch."

"What in the blazes happened to you?" Glynda asked as she fussed over his wounds and clothes. "Were you attacked?"

"Attacked?" He looked down at himself. "Oh, no. When I'm running in the woods I don't always see branches. I run into them going too fast occasionally. It isn't anything to worry about."

"…You get cut by branches from running too fast?" Glynda deadpanned.

"Yeah."

Glynda just closed her eyes and sighed. She turned back to Ozpin. "If there's nothing else, I'm going to sleep for a few hours."

Ozpin waved her off. "Sleep, sleep. I can deal with this work." Glynda left the tent, stealing another glance at Oobleck and rolling her eyes disbelievingly at him before she exited.

"You'd think she was my mother, the way she treats me." Oobleck complained.

"It's cause you're young." Ozpin explained.

"Compared to you, maybe. She can't be that much older than me."

"Never mention a woman's age, Barty."

Oobleck just sighed. "Well. Anyways. I've gathered what was left of team CRDL," Oobleck reports as he gestured towards the bag at his side. "It's mostly just some armor and clothing scraps. I believe Ruby Rose kidnapped them and left them for Grimm to eat, based on the nearby Deathstalker lair, and the blood stained Deathstalker inside it." Oobleck pulled out his scroll, and opened a map. "I followed Miss Rose's trails as far as I could but…" He shrugged. "She's good. False trails everywhere, real trails covered up, false trails covered up to look like they could be real trails. I spent hours trying to track her, and I can confidently say I have no idea where she went."

"That's unfortunate." Ozpin turned off his scroll and stood. "I have someone coming in tomorrow morning that will assist with the search. Let's all get some sleep tonight before our real work begins in the morning, shall we?"

Oobleck checks his watch. "I didn't expect I'd be out this long. I guess more coffee is out of the question."

"It is indeed. Now go get some rest, I just have a few more parents to contact before I go to sleep as well."

"Alright. Goodnight, Headmaster."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun was just peeking over the horizon when the three professors met once again in the Headmaster's tent. They looked reluctant to be awake, rubbing their eyes and groggily drinking their coffee. Except for Glynda Goodwitch, of course, who refused to look anything but professional around others. "You could have at least made an attempt to clean up." Glynda commented, seeing Professor Oobleck stroll into the tent, still wearing the same torn and dirty outfit from the night before.

"Mmrgh," was the perfectly coherent response from the groggy professor. He accepted a coffee mug from Professor Ozpin, who was not as clean as Glynda but at least still looked presentable.

"Mmrgh indeed." Ozpin replied as he saluted with his own coffee cup.

A rustling of the tent flap and an accompanying gravelly voice drew the three professors' attention. "You are as articulate as ever, I see." A man wearing a black suit on said with a smile as he entered the tent. His pale white skin contrasted with his dark suit, making him even more pale than he already was, but somehow it worked. His shoulder length hair was almost completely gray, the last few strands of black hair fighting a losing battle to retain their color.

Ozpin stood up to greet the man, retorting "And you are still as old as ever, Qrow." Ozpin clasped hands with Qrow, a smile on his face. "It is good to see you old friend. I wish it was under better circumstances."

"Yes, well. Things happen." He let go of Ozpin's hand to shake Professor Oobleck's hand, who was still in the process of recovering from sleep. "And Miss Goodwitch, you are the image of beauty, as always." He held his arms open out in front of him, a mischievous smile sneaking its way onto his face.

"Your flattery will win you no rewards from me, Qrow." Glynda replied, her smile betraying her seemingly cold words as she gave Qrow a quick hug.

"It was worth a shot. An old man has to keep his skills sharp." He laughed. As everyone settled into chairs and the greeting were over, his smile fell off his face. "So it's true then. How bad is it?"

Ozpin gave a summary of the events of the past couple days, along with some speculation about the reasoning behind the attacks. "How did Signal fare in the attack?"

Qrow waved off the question. "We weren't attacked. It seems they passed over the preparatory schools for the younger students. Didn't see them as a threat." He accepted a cup of coffee from Glynda with a nod of thanks, and a smile that she just rolled her eyes at while grinning. "And Ruby? Your message indicated a problem."

Ozpin and Glynda gave an account of what they knew about Ruby's actions so far- her kidnapping and murder of CRDL, then fleeing. Oobleck, finally awake enough to participate in conversation, finished the report to Qrow. "I tried tracking her last night, but she covered her tracks so well and left so many false trails I ended up going in circles before I had realized it. Multiple times." His cheeks blushed pink slightly as he recalled the previous evening. "It's quite embarrassing."

"Maybe I taught her a little too well. Though my sister probably taught her some tricks that I don't know about." Qrow smiled fondly as he remembered his sister, Ruby's mother. "I'm taking some time off from Signal. I'll spend some time looking for Ruby, and spend time with the girls' father. The poor man's lost everyone at this point."

"A lot of people have lost a lot. And with the Council declaring war, we're looking at many more lives lost, no matter what happens." Glynda added.

"Well I try to stay out of wars and politics. I fought my battles a long time ago." Qrow replied. He stood up from his chair after downing the last sip of coffee, shaking Ozpin's and Glynda's hands. "I'll send you a message about what I find as I search for Ruby." He turned to Oobleck. "Would you mind showing me your map data?"

"Of course, of course." Oobleck led Qrow to another table to start downloading the map data and giving his observations from the night before.

"The old man is as nonchalant as ever." Ozpin commented, watching the two discuss ideas over a map.

"Remaining calm and cool under stress is an attractive trait in a teacher." Glynda replied, watching Qrow.

"…'attractive?'"

"You know what I mean."

"Sure I do," Ozpin smiled. "When do the hunters we contacted arrive?"

"They should be here any moment now." Glynda consulted her scroll. "Their airships transponder puts them about fifteen minutes away, actually."

"Excellent."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blake awoke to shuffling noises coming from beside her. Her nose told her that it was just Weiss, and the warmth against her side told her that Velvet was still sleeping, curled into her. Opening her eyes and looking up at the ceiling, Blake turned her head to look at the Rabbit faunus that was sleeping on her arm. Velvet sleeping like this wasn't an unfamiliar sensation to Blake, but at the same time Blake was reminded by this small action that Yang was missing from her other side. Turning her head the other direction, Blake saw Weiss brushing her hair with the help of a small mirror that the heiress stood up against a box.

Weiss noticed the movement and turned around to look at Blake. "Good Morning, Blake." Weiss was still wearing the light nightgown she had slept in, indicating to Blake that Weiss hadn't been awake for long.

"Morning, Weiss. Did you sleep well?" Blake asked while easing Velvet off of her arm and sitting up.

"Slept well, but not much, unfortunately." Weiss turned around to face Blake. "Shall we all go wash at the creek again? I'd like to be clean for our new orders and training today."

"Good idea." Blake turned to gently shake Velvet's shoulder. "Hey, wake up dear. We're going to go take a bath. Want to come along?"

Velvet yawned as she stretched, her arms above her head as her feet pulled downward. "Yeah," Velvet said through her yawn, "I'll come."

"I'll go see if Nora and Pyrrha will be joining us while you two get your things." Weiss said as she walked out of the tent to go to the next tent over. She returned moments later. "They'll be coming too."

Blake and Velvet nodded as they gathered their regular outfits so that they could change into them after bathing. After gathering their stuff they gathered together to meet with Pyrrha and Nora, retrieving their towels off the lines hanging between their tents. Weiss protested when Jaune started accompanying them, but Nora assuaged her fears. "It'll be fine! We'll blindfold him and tie him to a tree so he can't peek."

"I'm sorry, we're what now?" Jaune replied, clearly unaware of this plan until this moment. "Can't I just, wash up somewhere away from you guys and meet you back at the edge of the forest?"

"What if you peek at us?" Velvet asked playfully.

"He wouldn't dare." Pyrrha replied for Jaune, her smile playful but her eyes promising Jaune a painful retribution should he peek.

Jaune held his hands up in an attempt to placate the girls surrounding him. "I won't peek, I won't peek, geez. You act like I'm a terrible person."

"What about that time when-" Blake started.

"That wasn't my fault!" Jaune complained. "It was Pyr-" he stopped mid syllable. Pyrrha was flushed red, whether in anger or embarrassment he couldn't tell, but he did see the gentle gaze of his girlfriend shift to something not so gentle. Something that said to Jaune said 'don't you dare' with a terrifying finality. "I mean. Ahem," he coughed. "That was entirely my fault and I apologize profusely for my error." Everyone just laughed as they continued walking. Eventually they reached the forest's edge and Jaune split off his own way, while the girls continued on to the same spot as yesterday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The airship arrived exactly when Professor Goodwitch told Professor Ozpin it would, allowing them to meet the airship at the landing zone without any waiting for either party. Oobleck had departed with Qrow just a few minutes previously to the forest, to better point out the trails he was following until Qrow picked up on the areas where Oobleck went wrong.

"Does she really have to be one of the ones training our students?" Glynda asked Ozpin irritably.

"Yes, she does." Ozpin smiled. "She's an excellent teacher and huntress, and you know it. Besides, she's the leader of the squad we called in. Can't call the others without her, can I?" He looked at Glynda out of the corner of his eye. "Or are you still bitter about her beating you in the tournament all those years ago?"

"I'm not bitter." Glynda mumbled. "Her personality is just…" Glynda waved one hand around, searching for a word to describe this huntress she so disapproved of.

"Well, I can agree with that." Ozpin agreed, himself knowing the difficulty of describing this particular huntress to anyone. As he finished agreeing with Glynda, the doors to both the airships cargo bay and the passenger area opened.

The first person out of the ship was the huntress that they were speaking of. "Morning Ozzy!" She waved her hand up high as she hopped down from the ship. The huntress was lively and unbelievably beautiful, with straight, golden hair that fell down to her waist. Her clothes were brightly colored robes, mixing whites and reds. Her lower body was adorned with a pair long, red, divided trousers that looked like a skirt when she was standing still, with black leather boots. On her upper body she wore a white, half kimono jacket that had long, loose sleeves with red ribbons stitched onto it in swirling patterns. Her kimono left her toned midriff exposed, showing off her otherwise covered body. A pair of fox ears and a long, fluffy tail, both the same golden color as her hair but tipped with white, displayed at her faunus heritage. Coming to a stop in front of Professor Ozpin, it was evident that she was also fairly tall, matching Ozpin's height, which in turn caused Glynda to have to look up at the huntress, much to Glynda's chagrin.

Glynda huffed her annoyance at the peppy huntress. "Please try to refer to the Headmaster by his proper name in the presence of students, Miss Mae." Glynda said disdainfully.

"Oh, no 'Miss Mae,' please. Makes me sound old." The fox faunus replied. "Call me Tammy!" She struck a pose, with her hips out to the side and her hands twirling her hair.

"I'll abstain, thank you." Glynda replied, leaning back to put some distance between her and the huntress.

"Don't tease Glynda, Tamamo." Ozpin said with a chuckle. "How have you been?"

"I've been amazing, of course." She replied cheerfully.

"You know what I mean."

"Yes, yes. The fortress is holding out fine, no one's been hurt in a long time." Tamamo amended. "Still Grimm, as always. But they aren't a problem, no Grimm get past us to the city on my watch." She poked her ample chest proudly with her thumb.

"Who did you get to substitute for you while you're here?" Ozpin asked.

"Fionn Macgorm. He owes me a favor, I had him convince his squad leader to fill in for a few days." Tamamo giggled.

"Poor guy." Ozpin deadpans.

"I try to make his life interesting."

"Let's talk in the tent, shall we? Will the rest of your squad be joining us?" Ozpin asked, gesturing to the others exiting the airship.

"Those guys aren't my squad. They just take care of the ship. The rest of my squad is back at the fortress. Just let me know what you need and I'll be sure to tell them what they need to know." Tamamo replied, her tail flicking back and forth happily behind her. Following along behind Ozpin, the playful huntress walked along, almost bouncing with excitement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their bathing went much the same as the previous day, except Blake washed Velvet instead of Nora, much to Velvet's relief. They finished much more quickly because they didn't need to wash any clothes this time, and were on their way back to the camp, dressed in their normal attire when they came across Jaune, sitting on a tree trunk where they entered the forest.

"Hello ladies. Shall we?" Jaune held his arm out. Most of the girls just rolled their eyes as they walked by him, but Pyrrha obliged him, linking her arm with his as they strolled back to camp.

As the group neared the camp, Velvet shushed everyone as her ears twitched. Looking at Velvet expectantly, everyone walked in silence. "There's an announcement happening right now." Velvet said after a few moments. Blake's ears twitched, her own hearing finally picking up the voice as they got closer. Velvet continued relaying what she was hearing. "Professor Goodwitch is saying that the former students who wished to fight are supposed to meet in the same clearing as yesterday at one o'clock, pm." Velvet went silent for a few moments. "And if we're late we get sent home with the rest of the students."

"Well, we'd best make sure we're not late then." Weiss said, picking up the pace.

"Weiss, it's barely nine in the morning. We could take a nap and still be there in time." Nora commented, skipping along happily.

Weiss slowed back down. "Right. Sorry. I just… don't want to be left behind."

"Does anyone else want breakfast?" Pyrrha asked. "I'm starving." Everyone agreed as the reentered the camp, walking towards the mess tent.

"Oh, Weiss!" Nora asked as she strolled along.

"Yes, Nora?" Weiss replied nervously.

"Can I sleep in your tent tonight?" Nora continued.

"…Why?"

"Because last night Jaune and Pyrrha thought they were being quiet but they really weren't and-"

"Nora!" Pyrrha shouted, red faced. "Can I talk to you over here please?" Before giving Nora a chance to respond, Pyrrha dragged her away by the elbow. Once they were a sufficient distance away, Pyrrha began whispering hurriedly to her, waving her arms animatedly as she spoke to Nora. Nora listened patiently with a smile on her face, before responding with something that made Pyrrha immediately stop talking and put her arms down. Pyrrha remained quiet for a few moments, before hugging Nora and then walking her back to the rest of the group.

"Weiss," Pyrrha started. "Is it okay if Nora sleeps in your tent to give me and Jaune some alone time?" Pyrrha face was once again red and blushing, and Jaune's followed suit.

"...What." Jaune contributed.

"Uh…" Weiss looked at her two fellow companions that she shared a tent with. Blake and Velvet immediately nodded their consent. "Sure thing. We don't mind."

"Thank you!" "Thanks" Pyrrha and Nora exclaimed. Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's arm and pulled him ahead of the group, with Nora following after them, but still at a distance.

"You'd think Pyrrha would remember that we have good hearing." Blake noted, looking at Velvet.

"Yeah…" Velvet sighed. "That was really understanding of her though."

"Who is understanding? Nora giving them some space?" Weiss asked. Her own hearing was not as acute as the two faunus' next to her, so she had not heard the exchange between Pyrrha and Nora.

"Nora was just making up an excuse to get out of the tent. She couldn't sleep because Jaune and Pyrrha are still together, and they remind her of Ren." Blake explained.

Velvet continued when Blake stopped. "When Nora confessed that to Pyrrha, she decided to cover for Nora, even if it embarrassed her." Velvet smiled. "How cute of her."

"Though I suppose it would be proper manners to pretend we didn't hear them." Blake finished. "Let's go get some breakfast, and then go see what there is to do until the meeting."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As one o'clock drew nearer, the students who volunteered to fight drifted towards the clearing from their various locations. Weiss had been sitting alone in her tent, tending to her weapon, while Blake went to retrieve her own weapon from the military engineering corps that was in the camp, who had fixed her weapon that broke on the night they fled Beacon. The rest of their group had been off doing their own things, but eventually they met and gathered around each other in the clearing, exchanging greetings.

Jaune broke the silence, adjusting his sword and shield on his hip and asking "So do you think we'll be doing any training today, or this is more informational?"

"Who knows, we have no idea what's going on." Velvet responded, before pointing off to their right. "But there's Professor Ozpin."

The rest of Velvet's companions' eyes followed her pointing finger to see Professor Ozpin walking into the clearing, accompanied by another woman. This woman was the center of attention in the eyes of everyone who saw her strolling by. Even Weiss, raised among the wealthy and beautiful couldn't help it when her mouth opened slightly in surprise and awe. Using the word 'beautiful' seemed inadequate for this woman; her golden hair shining in the sun, her fair skin very nearly glowing, her exposed midriff toned and rippling with toned muscle. Her fox ears twitched towards the students, picking up their whispers, while her long, fluffy tail flicked back and forth behind her with each step.

"Holy crap she's beautiful." Jaune commented. He reflexively covered that back of his head and flinched away from Pyrrha, expecting a smack or some sort of retaliation.

"Yeah, she is." Pyrrha agreed, also staring. Jaune was baffled at Pyrrha's behavior.

"I know I'm pretty sure I'm shooting myself in the foot for asking, but… you aren't mad I said that?"

"No, I'll give you this one. I'm having a hard time not staring too."

Conversations of similar nature were happening all around them, with many of the students not yet recovered from the initial shock of seeing her. Weiss finally got her wits back, turning to Blake. "Do you know who that is?"

"I don't think so. She seems familiar though. Maybe I've heard about her somewhere." Blake responded, blinking repeatedly and looking away from the fox faunus.

Professor Ozpin stepped up onto the same truck he had used for the assembly the previous day, clearing his throat to get the attention of the gathered students. "Ladies, gentlemen," he began, "As of this morning, you are no longer students at my academy. You are huntsman and huntresses now."

"Almost!" the beautiful woman interrupted. Ozpin gave her a look that clearly said 'please be quiet' but all she did was giggle back at him.

"As I was saying. I will consider you graduates from my academy, and I will of course file the necessary paperwork. You are all confident enough in your abilities to think you are capable of fighting in this war, which may very well be true. Your new superior, Tamamo Mae," he held his hand out, presenting the woman next to him, "Will be the one making that call. She will be in charge of training you for battle, and assisting you as needed."

Blake's eyes widened when she heard the name she leaned over to whisper in Weiss' ear. "Tamamo Mae. That's why she looks familiar to me- she's a legendary huntress. She's a hero among the faunus." Weiss' eyes widened slightly at the news.

One student raised his hand. "Haven't we proved we know how to fight, Professor? We've been fighting Grimm for years." Weiss and Blake didn't recognize the young man.

The woman answered for Professor Ozpin. "Yes, I'm sure you're all wonderful at fighting Grimm. But how are you at fighting soldiers? As part of a unit? Against other Hunters?" she waved her hand dismissively at the student. "I'd bet most all of you are still children when it comes to battle and war."

Ozpin coughed into his hand. "Ahem. Well. I would've put it differently, but Miss Mae here-"

"Tammy!" she interrupted once again.

"-has made her point quite clear." He continued, ignoring the interruption. "You will accompany her to…" he paused as the student raised his hand again. "Yes?"

"We've been fighting together as teams since we got to Beacon, and in tournaments, and against each other, I think we know how to fight!"

Ozpin took a breath to respond, but Tamamo Mae put her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, then stepped back, allowing her to take his place in giving the speech. "So you know how to fight then?"

"That's what we've been training for, right?" the student replied with an air of superiority.

"So you've been training for this then?" She hopped off the truck, and approached the student slowly, her voice losing its cheery tone and instead becoming deeper, and menacing. "So when your school was attacked, what did you do? Wheen enemy soldiers came knocking on your door, did you answer?"

"I-" he stuttered.

"Did you fight?" She walked closer still, her height becoming apparent as she approached, taller than most of the students. "Or did you run?" The imposing feeling of power rolling off of her made Tamamo Mae look even taller as the student tried to lean away.

"I- I fou-" he stuttered, but looking into her eyes, something inside him cracked. His shoulders slumped. "I ran."

"As I thought. You ran, and then have the audacity to talk big?" She jammed a finger against his chest. "You are the worst kind of person, aren't you. You aren't coming with me. You can run on home to your parents." She pushed him back, stumbling. "Anyone else here who thinks they're all that?" No students responded.

Her voice changed back to the cheery voice from before. "Good. The rest of you are free to accompany me when I leave." Her mouth opened into sadistic smile that was at odds with her cheery voice. "When we get to my fortress, I'll begin testing you, and weeding out those of you who aren't good enough. You're mine now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Extra note: Fionn Macgorm is an OC courtesy of Snaketicus. Shoutout!


	7. A Hunter's Initiation

Tamamo was skipping alongside Professor Ozpin, smiling and humming an upbeat song to herself as she turned her face up to bask in the afternoon sunlight. She enjoyed nothing more than laying down in the sunshine and taking a nap, but skipping through the warm rays was pretty high on her list of enjoyments as well. The fox faunus was also fully aware of the stares her body drew, and was perfectly happy being admired, basking in the attention. "More people in this camp should sing." She observed as they traveled along.

"I'm sure most people are still a bit traumatized by their recent experience." Ozpin explained.

"All the more reason to sing!" Tamamo chirped. "Makes you happier."

"I suppose you have a point there." Ozpin conceded halfheartedly. He knew winning an argument against Tamamo was one of the most difficult things in the world to do, and had long since given up trying. He changed the subject. "When are you leaving?"

"I gave them enough time to pack what few belongings they still have and want to bring." She answered. "It's not like they have much left anyways."

"Blunt, as always." Ozpin chuckled.

"No reason not to be." She said, giggling. "Always best to be honest and straightforward, right?"

"You say that, but you don't fight very straightforward and honestly." Ozpin countered with a smirk.

"Bah. Fighting is its own game. Different rules, and more fun." Tamamo smiled back.

"True enough."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why did she give us two hours? What do any of us have to pack that would take two hours?" Weiss complained. Blake, Velvet, and her were gathering up what few clothes and supplies they had from their tent.

"She probably wanted to give us time to say goodbye to our friends." Blake suggested. "I'm going to go visit Yang's memorial before we leave, alright?" Blake ducked out of the tent.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Very asked nervously. "Should we go with her?"

Weiss shook her head. "No, we should let her have some time alone. It's probably a lot of effort to maintain her normal behavior with us when she's still in pain from losing Yang."

"I guess neither of us really can relate to losing someone we loved the way she did." Velvet said sadly.

Weiss felt a sharp pain in her chest as she thought of Ruby, and how she never got the chance to confess her feelings to her. "… No, I guess not."

"She cried last night. After she thought we fell asleep." Velvet confessed. "It woke me up when some tears fell on my ears." Velvet explained sheepishly.

"I wonder if she'll be good to fight." Weiss worried. "I don't want her getting hurt because she's still mourning. I'm sure they'll be plenty of enemies to fight if she waits."

"I think we may discover that her grief may make a powerful motivator in her fight."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A short while later Blake found herself standing at Yang's small memorial she had created. Blake crouched in from of the stone, and slowly ran her hand across the engraving. Once again, she found some tears trailing their way down her face unbidden. Blake smiled. "I'm not even crying anymore and still there are tears." She wiped them away with her thumb. "This is entirely your fault, you know. You made me love you." She stroked the stone the same way she remembered stroking Yang's cheek after they spent some time apart.

"I'm going to train to fight," Blake started, "and then I'm going to join the war." Blake stood up. "I'll fight more than anyone else. Harder than anyone else. For the both of us."

Blake heard someone moving through the forest behind her, and then turned to see Nora, carrying a small bundle of bright pink Peony flowers. Nora paused at the edge of the clearing, giving Blake some space. Blake waved her over though. "Hi Blake. I can wait until you're done."

"No, don't worry. I'm done talking to her." Blake assured her. "I'll let you have your time with Ren. See you back at camp, Nora."

"Thanks Blake." Nora gave a small wave goodbye as Blake walked off.

Blake picked up her pace as she heard Nora begin speaking to Ren, not wanting to eavesdrop on such a personal conversation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The former students were all gathered at the airships that Tamamo had brought in. Weiss looked around for the rest of Tamamo's squad, but couldn't see anyone who looked like a huntress or a huntsman. Weiss wanted to see who her instructors would be, so she could look them up on her scroll as they flew back to wherever it was Tamamo was taking them.

"They aren't hunters." Weiss her a familiar, cheery voice behind her say. She turned around to see Tamamo Mae standing there, still as happy as ever. "They're caretakers. They help us run errands, maintain equipment, pilot for us. Things like that."

"Oh. Is your squad still at your base?" Weiss asked.

"My squad isn't, they're out on a long patrol. Another squad is watching my fortress until I get back." Tamamo answered.

"Is that where we're going to train?"

"Mmhm. It's huge, so we have plenty of rooms for you all to sleep in, and plenty of empty space to train. Honestly, it'll be nice having more people. A squad of hunters and a group of caretakers leaves the place awfully empty." Tamamo explained as her eyes lost focus, seeing something inside her memories. "And I get to teach again! Life is good."

"Would you mind if you gave me the information on the other hunters who will be training us? I'd like to read about them during the flight, if you don't mind." Weiss queried.

"Sure thing sweetie." Tamamo reached into the large sleeve of her top and pulled out her scroll. "Let's see… here." She connected to Weiss' scroll and tapped some files, sending them over.

"Thank you." Weiss looked down at the names on the files. She saw each folder was labeled with a name- Denarii Latium. Vimentis. Hauonekani Jiwe. Cheshire Fry. "Did they all go to Beacon?"

"Yep. Graduated years ago, though. Some of us graduated even before Ozzy became Headmaster, and was still a teacher." Tamamo explained, her tail waving about of its own accord.

"Were you all on the same team?"

"Oh, no. we're all different ages. I met them when they joined my post at the fortress, years ago. We have a perfect record of defending from the Grimm!" Tamamo puffed her chest out proudly.

Weiss noted with some envy that despite the kimono doing a good job of obscuring most of Tamamo's figure, her generous chest was still quite evident. She was saved the awkward decision of attempting to change the subject with Blake and Velvet's arrival, with Nora, Jaune and Pyrrha a short ways behind them. "Hello again everyone." Weiss said, greeting everyone with a tiny wave of her hand.

Tamamo turned to see who Weiss was greeting, and her eyes fell onto the two faunus. "Oh ho, look at you two." She looked at Blake's cat ears. "A kitty cat! I have another cat faunus on my squad too. Not as pretty as you though. He's a little… strange." She turned to Velvet. Oh my gosh you are so cute!" Tamamo exclaimed excitedly as she reached out to rub Velvet's unhurt ear. "Ah, so soft." She glanced at the other ear. "The other was hurt in the attack?" Tamamo moved to gently touch the other ear.

During this entire encounter Velvet's face had gone red with embarrassment, and she was glancing back and forth at Blake and Weiss, unsure how to respond to the huntress' treatment. "Um, uh, yeah." Velvet managed to get out. "C-could you not-"

"I know just the thing for this!" Tamamo reached into her sleeves yet again. She dug around for a few moments as Velvet just sat there, mortified. Velvet looked to Blake, hoping for a rescue, but Blake was just watching curiously. Velvet turned back to Tamamo as she pulled a container out of her sleeve. "Here it is! Take off your bandage on your ear. Come on come on, faster faster!" Velvet began unwrapping the bandages on her ear nervously, revealing the burns and missing portions of her ear.

Tamamo unscrewed the lid on the small container then used the tips of her fingers to scoop a small amount of the pink colored substance. "Is that cream? Lotion?" Velvet asked warily.

"Homemade lotion. Don't worry about it. Come here!" Tamamo steamrolled over Velvet's reluctance with her boulder of positivity. Tamamo then began gently smearing the lotion onto Velvet's ear, causing Velvet to flinch back slightly from Tamamo's contact with the wound. "Stop moving." She said firmly, but gently. "It'll feel better in just a few seconds."

True to her word, Blake could see Velvet's shoulders relax and the tension drain away. Tamamo kept massaging the lotion into Velvet ear, and just a few seconds later Velvet's eyes were closed, the waves of relaxation finally calming her nerves and easing the pain. Unexpectedly, Velvet accidentally let out a moan of pleasure. "Eep!" Velvet's hand shot up and covered her mouth.

Tamamo just laughed. "I can see that my lotion works." Velvet just nodded, looking down at the ground in embarrassment. Tamamo looked around and found that the former students she was taking along with her had all gathered. "Alright everyone, split into two groups and get on the airships! We're leaving!"

Tamamo hopped onto the first airship. The gathered group just shrugged at each other, and broke up into their groups of friends and boarded an airship of preference. The former teams RWBY and JNPR, plus Velvet, and a few others, hopped onto the same one as Tamamo. Tamamo was already sitting in a seat just inside the entrance, her tail wrapped around her waist, humming to herself with a smile on her face.

Weiss sat down next to her, the rest of her friends filing in and sitting beside her. Within a few minutes, the ship was in the air and they were on their way. Nora began sleeping, napping in her seat. Jaune and Pyrrha were holding hands and chatting with Blake and Velvet. Weiss opted to open her scroll and read the files on the hunters that Tamamo had given her.

The files were disappointingly sparse- they had names and pictures, a basic biography and that was it. "Excuse me, Tamamo?" Weiss asked.

Tamamo, who was brushing her tail contentedly with a wide, flat hair brush, turned to look at Weiss. "Yes dear?"

"Is there any more information on these hunters?" Weiss asked, gesturing to the folders on her scroll. "The folders look empty."

"I know they are. I don't want you guys studying them before we… test you." Tamamo replied, smirking.

"How're you going to be testing us?" Blake asked, having heard the last portion of their conversation.

"Simple. You'll be meeting us, each in turn. We'll each test you on something different. I'll explain it all when we arrive so I don't have to tell everyone again later, okay?" Tamamo was brushing her hair now, having finished brushing her tail.

Blake and Weiss nodded in acknowledgement, turning back to face each other. Deciding that Tamamo wasn't going to give them any more information about their training.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oobleck dashed back into camp, arriving at Ozpin's tent. "I've returned, headmaster."

Professor Ozpin looked up from his seat. "Welcome back. Is Qrow still out there?"

"Yes. He's picked up the trails and is searching on his own. He's certainly doing better than I was." Oobleck reported.

"Well, best of luck to him." Ozpin tapped a button on his scroll. "I just sent you some orders I need you and Glynda to take care of."

Oobleck opened his scroll and looked at the orders. "Real estate?"

"I need teaching facilities until Beacon is rebuilt. The students can have a month off to spend with their families, but I can't just leave them to stagnate until then." Ozpin explained, sending more orders to Oobleck's scroll. "I need you to take a look at these facilities and approve them for my standards. If you approve the facilities, contact Glynda. She'll follow up and purchase them for us, and begin ordering renovations."

"Understood. I'll start now then. Unless you have something else for me?"

"Nothing else. The students will be leaving over the next few days, so all I just have some other professors doing is making sure no one gets in trouble. You and Glynda can handle the new facilities while I organize the huntsman and huntresses for the war." Ozpin explained, sighing.

"So we're really sending the other hunters in?" Oobleck asked sadly.

"Our military is small. We don't have the manpower to stand up to a huge military like Vacuo's. Without huntsmen and huntresses, we'll be crushed in no time." Ozpin flicked through the scroll. "Though it seems many of the hunters stationed in Vacuo have fled to their home kingdoms, so at least we have a small advantage there."

"And Mistral and Atlas?"

"Building up their defenses. They're scared of being attacked again, but they aren't right next to Vacuo like us, so they don't feel pressed to attack. I may be able to convince them to aid us someday, but for now they're too scared." Ozpin said disapprovingly.

"Politics are truly ridiculous. Better to be a teacher." Oobleck decided, nodding his head with conviction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wake up everyone!" Tamamo yelled cheerfully, startling everyone from their various activities. Some people were indeed sleeping, others reading, and others still chatting or just looking out the window. Everyone was turning their heads to look towards the front of the airship where Tamamo stood, yelling into a microphone so she could be heard over both ships' speakers. "We're landing in one minute, assemble in front of the fortress!

She dropped the micro phone back into its receiver before turning around and leaning into the cockpit, leaving only her tail and legs sticking out of the doorway. Blake, who had been napping, let out a great yawn while stretching her body as best she could in her seat. "Finally. I hate flying in airships."

"It was only like, three hours." Weiss observed with a chuckle.

"Still too long to be sitting in such a cramped seat." Blake countered.

"I can't say I disagree with that." Weiss conceded.

Weiss could feel a sort of weightlessness in the pit of her stomach as the dropship quickly descended towards the ground, giving the passengers the sensation of floating momentarily. It was over quickly as the airships abruptly slowed their descent, before landing with a hard thud. The doors on either side of the airship slid open with a hiss, letting in the cool evening air. Tamamo leaped off the airship, letting out a gleeful "Yee!" before walking towards the fortress.

The rest of the students gathered up quickly behind her, with Weiss at the lead, eyes drawn up to the enormous fortress gate in front of them. The iron gate was just the beginning, however. The fortress itself was beautiful, both in design and practicality. Tiered stone walls that were both tall and thick, with towers spaced evenly throughout, and at each of the corners. Past the walls was an imposing stone castle, made of chiseled and carved stone. It consisted of multiple sections all connected by hallways and bridges, made of complex wooden supports designed for maximum stability. On many of the castles corners and ledges were carved gigantic gargoyles, which may have once looked frightening, but nature had taken its toll and weathered away their features, leaving them as mostly faceless, winged lumps of stone.

The creaky opening of the gate drew their attention back down in front of them, revealing a tall, fit, and muscular man wearing gold and bronze colored armor, along with a brown leather kilt adorned with metal straps, and sturdy, heavy looking leather sandals that were strapped on to more bronze and gold colored metal shin guards. His face looked hard as stone and smooth as metal, perfectly shaved and clean cut with short, military cut hair to match. Everything about this man just screamed 'professional soldier' to Weiss. He kept his back straight and carried himself tall, cutting an imposing figure. Even his voice was deep, clear, and powerful, easily cutting through the morning air. "Commander. Welcome back to base."

"Hello Dani!" Tamamo greeted. "How was your expedition?"

Unfazed by Tamamo's enthusiasm, the soldier-man continued. "Commander, I would ask that you please refrain from referring to me using such an appellation, especially in front of the trainees." He continued after making his correction. "Our purging expedition was a success. The nearby cities should be safe for some time while we train these newcomers. A simple paired patrol should suffice until the Grimm replenish their numbers."

"After all these years, you're still all work and no fun." Tamamo said, sighing. "What about Fionn? Is he still here?"

"I'm afraid you just missed him. He stayed with us when we returned this morning, but announced he was leaving as soon as you called in to report you were near." Soldier-man replied, with only the ghost of a hint of a smile indicating he found Fionn fleeing from Tamamo amusing.

"Poor boy. He never wants to spend any time with me." She giggled.

"I can only speculate, but I suspect that he fears you would bite him again, Commander."

"I only did it once. You think he'd get over it already." Tamamo defended, smiling. She turned around at the people gathered behind her, then looked over her should at the soldier-man. "Care to do the honors?"

"Yes, Commander." He stepped forward in front of Tamamo, and came to a stop just a few steps in front of the students. "Trainees!" He barked out loudly. "Assemble into five lines!" The students jumped at his loud voice, before rushing to set up in lines. Weiss ended up at the front of the center line, even though she hadn't moved at all. Blake was the head of the line to her right, and Velvet past that. Jaune was to Weiss' left, and Nora to his left. Pyrrha was second in line behind Jaune. The students, used to assemblies at Beacon, had made the lines as even as they could, with only two of the lines being just one person shorter than the others due to the number of students present.

"I am Denarii Latium. I am second in command and grandmaster tactician here at this fortress, answerable only to the Commander." He began after they had settled down, looking forward expectantly. "You are under our care and supervision. You will have more freedoms than you did when you were students at Beacon, but our orders are absolute. Commander?" He stepped back and spread his legs shoulder width and brought arms behind his back, waiting for orders.

"Like Denarii said: You will have more freedoms than you did as students. There are no specific meal times, bed times, or whatever times. You can go wherever you please in the fortress whenever you want. But," she held up a finger, "Our orders are to be followed. If I tell you wake up at two in the morning and to go run a lap around the fortress, you do it. If Dani here," he grunted in displeasure at the nickname, "Orders you to go to bed at three in the afternoon, you do it. Understood?" Everyone mumbled their understanding.

"You answer with 'Yes, ma'am' when the Commander asks if you understand, trainees!" Denarii barked.

"Yes ma'am!" The students yelled back.

"Better." Tamamo giggled. "Your training begins now. You don't get to stay in the fortress unless you pass our tests. Follow me!" Tamamo turned and walked into the fortress, waving her arms excitedly for them to follow. The new trainees could hear the airships behind them being wheeled away somewhere else, presumably a hangar of some sort.

Everyone looked at each other confusedly before following, unsure if Tamamo was serious about them not being allowed to stay in the fortress if they didn't pass her tests. As they walked through the great wooden doors, they came into an entryway, the walls draped with old, moth-holed tapestries showing battles against the Grimm who were attacking the fortress, most likely from long ago. The interior was lit with a series of lamps that flickered on as they neared, brightening the otherwise dark hallway considerably. The entryway was short, and soon opened up into a large room, filled with large tables, the edges of the room dotted with doors leading elsewhere in the fortress.

"You didn't tell me we were getting newbies, Tammy!" A voice above them laughed. Weiss and the others looked up to be greeted by a strange sight. There was a man hanging upside down from an unlit chandelier, his ankles hooked through the large metal ring and his arms behind his head. His eyes were a startling electric green, and were reflecting some of the light from the lamps, giving his gaze a disconcerting glow. He was smiling widely, his sharp teeth making his smile more creepy than happy looking. His clothes were simple yet eccentric. He wore a bright purple and magenta puffy sweater which blended in neatly with his dark purple shoulder length hair, and bright pink cargo shorts that clashed horribly with his sweater. His ears were twitching wildly in every direction, reacting to the slightest noises.

"Hello, Ches." Tamamo greeted. "You'd know if you ever checked your scroll."

"Denarii took it from me." He pouted.

"It had to be done. You wouldn't stop sending everyone pictures of yourself." Denarii explained calmly in answer to Tamamo's questioning look.

"Oh, that again. Anyways kids, this is Cheshire Fry. Try not to take him too seriously." Tamamo had been on the receiving end of some of his picture sending sprees before, and understood Denarii's decision. As Tamamo finished speaking, one of the doors opened and a muscular woman strode in.

She was the same height as Denarii, and just as muscular. Her dark brown skin was covered in scars, souvenirs of her innumerable battles. Her armor was a mix of studded leather straps and cured animal hide, reminding Weiss of the old warriors in the tapestries from long ago. The woman had an absurdly large great axe nearly as long as she was tall in a holster on her back. Her hair was braided into dreadlocks, and those dreadlocks tied together into a ponytail to keep her long hair out of the way of unsheathing her weapon quickly. "Tamamo, it is good to see you back." Her baritone voice was thick and smooth, and soothing to hear.

"You too, Kani." Tamamo said as she hugged the woman. "Kids, this is Hauonekani Jiwe, our resident blacksmith, engineer, and fearsome huntress. Don't make her mad."

"I'm not nearly as mean as Tamamo makes me out to be." Hauonekani Jiwe answered. "And I realize my name is probably a mouthful for some of you, so just call me Kani."

"Where's Vimentis?" Tamamo asked Kani. Kani pointed to one of the tables towards the back of the great hall, where a figure dressed in black was sprawled out on a table, sleeping quietly. "Of course he's sleeping. Would you mind waking him up, Kani?"

Kani nodded as she walked over and grabbed Vimentis by the jacket, then with a mighty tug pulled him off the table, cause him to fall onto the floor with a sickening thud. "Wake up."

The trainees mouths had dropped open, sure that the man had been hurt. But he just stood up groggily and yawned, no signs of injury anywhere. "Whos'it?" He turned his head slowly as if he was looking around the room, but his eyes were still closed. "Why'd you," he yawned again, "wake me up?"

Kani was already walking back towards Tamamo. "Work."

Vimentis groaned as he shuffled along, following Kani. Now that he was standing, Weiss could get a better look at him. He had bed head, his hair all messy and knotted everywhere. Were his hair groomed, his glossy black hair would've fallen down past his shoulders to just past his shoulder blades, but as it was, it was everywhere. He wore a black businessman's overcoat, with an incorrectly buttoned white dress shirt underneath. His grey slacks were all wrinkled from sleeping in them, and his shoes were nowhere to be found. All in all, Weiss thought he cut quite the unimpressive figure.

"And this is our resident sleeper." Tamamo joked. He waved at the group sleepily, yawning again. Weiss had to fight the urge to yawn as she watched him yawn yet again. He still hadn't opened his eyes.

"Okay, now that everyone is here, let's go over the plan. We," Tamamo gestured to her and her squad, "will be each testing you, individually, on various skills." She held up a piece of paper with a chart on it. "You will each grab one of these off the table and fill in your name. Each of our names are on this already, along with a box where we will score you.

"If you do not pass enough of these, I'm kicking you out and sending you home, deal?" She laughed, as if the prospect of the students failing was immensely amusing. "There's a map on the back that shows which room each of us is going to be in when we test you." She turned the page around so the students could see the map. "You can come see us in any order you want. Except for me, only see me when you've seen the other members of my squad. Feel free to leave your bags in this room until you're done."

She set the paper back down on the table. "Do NOT show and discuss your results with one another, and do NOT tell people about the tests if they haven't taken it yet. You can only talk to your peers about the test if both of you have already seen me. Before that, and I kick you out. Easy enough, right? Let's get started!" Tamamo cheered as she skipped out of the great hall, and the other members of her squad left through various doors.

Weiss looked up and didn't see Cheshire Fry anymore, but didn't recall seeing him leave through a door either. Mysterious. "Where do you think he went?" Weiss asked Blake while pointing at the chandelier.

Blake shrugged. "I didn't see him leave either." She scanned the rafters, looking for a hatch but didn't see anything. "Oh well. Do you want to go to the tests together, or just meet up after?" Blake asked her group of friends.

"I say we split up." Jaune suggested. "So we aren't tempted to talk to each other about the tests so much." Everyone agreed that his plan made sense as they filled their names out on their forms, then split up in different directions, following the map.

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Weiss began walking along a path towards an office labeled 'Denarii Latium.' Her quick stride ensured she arrived first, to find the door open with Denarii sitting at a mahogany desk. "Come in, please put this sign on the door before you close it." He handed Weiss a sign that had written on it 'Wait until you are called in. Do not knock.' Weiss hooked it onto the door before returning to him. "Have a seat." Weiss sat in a padded chair across from him as he pulled out a box.

"I will be testing your strategic and critical thinking." He explained, pulling out a wooden checkered board, and a smaller box filled with all sorts of figurines. "I will pose scenarios, you will answer. I will counter, you will respond. Understood?"

"I understand, sir." Weiss answered, looking down. Chess? Weiss was surprised at this test. She had expected some sort of interview. But Weiss was skilled when it came to chess, so she straightened her back, feeling confident.

Weiss was soon had beads of sweat forming on her forehead though, as Denarii kept setting up pieces in increasingly unfair scenarios. This wasn't standard chess, this was chess where Weiss was missing half of her pieces, or where certain squares on the board were impassable, or where the pieces were arranged differently, or where some pieces looked one way but behaved like another piece, or a dozen other variations Denarii came up with. None of the games lasted longer than a couple minutes, and Weiss lost as many of the games of chess as she had won, and her hopes had been shattered.

"We're done here." Denarii announced after the final game. He took Weiss' paper out of her hand, and scribbled something in the box before handing it back to her.

Weiss looked down at the box, bracing herself for disappointment, when she saw the score in the box: ninety-two out of one hundred. "Ninety-two out of one hundred?" she asked out loud. "But I lost so many of those games!"

He raised an eyebrow. "You weren't supposed to win the games. I was judging your decision making and analytical skills." He gestured at the board. "You actually won far more than I expected. Many of your peers will lose most of these games, and some will lose even all of them."

"Oh." Weiss responded, feeling slightly foolish.

"I've been a strategist and tactician for nearly twenty years, Miss Schnee. You weren't expecting to win all of them, were you?" He asked. Weiss just looked around sheepishly. He laughed for the first time since Weiss had seen him. "I like your confidence and spirit. Don't lose that. Now go on, get out. Send in whoever is next in line."

"Thank you, sir." Weiss gave a quick bow before stepping out and telling the next student to go in. After she was out of earshot of the students in line, Weiss let out a sigh of gargantuan proportions. "Ugh, that was stressful. I hope the others are better."

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Weiss had decided to follow the map clockwise, and found herself standing in line to enter the room labeled 'Hauonekani Jiwe,' with the same sign on the door Denarii had. While waiting, Weiss was discovering that waiting in line was its own special kind of test, watching the other students come out of the room massaging their muscles and wincing in pain. By the time it was her turn, Weiss had concocted a dozen things that could be happening as part of Kani's test. When the student in front of her came out and told Weiss to enter, she did so with much trepidation.

Inside the room was… nothing. Just an empty stone walled room with a dirt floor. The only things Weiss could see were a tiny table next to the door, and Hauonekani Jiwe standing at its center, holding her great axe on her should with one arm. "Hello there, child. Leave your paper by the on that table." Weiss set her paper on the table. "Now come, come." Weiss went to stand in front of the woman.

As she walked over, Weiss got a better look at the axe. It was single sided, with a long, curved blade that shone silver. The back of the axe head had a wicked looking spike for piercing, which Weiss eyed warily. "Hello." Weiss greeted the huntress.

"My test is simple. Fight me with your weapon. No dust, no aura, no semblance. Ready?" Weiss was hesitating- she had never fought without dust and her semblance before. Not effectively, anyways. "Taking too long!" Kani swung her massive axe down at Weiss with just a single arm.

Weiss leapt back, the axe nearly shaving some skin off her nose as it blew by, smashing into the floor with a crash. Chunks of dirt flew everywhere from the massive impact, throwing up a cloud of dust that blocked Weiss' view of Kani. Before Weiss could secure her footing, Kani leapt through the cloud with a roar, swinging her weapon horizontally across at the stumbling heiress.

Without the footing to leap back again, Weiss kicked off the ground with one foot, and cart wheeled over the axe, keeping her arms against her chest as she jabbed Myrtenaster forward at the huntress, trying to score a hit to distract her so Weiss could get some footing. As Myrtenaster's point darted towards Kani's chest, she lifted her axe handle, deflecting the rapier upwards as Weiss landed on her feet and darted away to put some distance between her and the ferocious warrior.

With some distance between the two, Weiss finally had time to analyze her situation. Clearly she was no match for the huntress in strength, but Weiss believed she was faster and more acrobatic, allowing her an advantage in speed and mobility, which she knew she had to use to her advantage. Weiss shifted her stance, distributing her weight evenly between her feet as she stood on the balls of her feet, ready to move in any direction as needed.

Kani charged once again, axe now held horizontally across her body in both hands. Weiss held her ground, waiting to see what direction the attack would come from so she could maneuver around it. At the last moment, she saw Kani's axe begin to shift upwards, opening up her chest for an attack. Weiss lunged forward, moving in too close for the axe to come down and hit her, ready to jab with her rapier.

As Weiss was jabbing, she realized that the axe was no longer in Kani's hands only an instant before her fists slammed into Weiss' chest, throwing her back onto the floor. Lying on her back, Weiss saw the axe fall back into Kani's hands. She had twitched to throw her axe upwards, tricking Weiss into thinking she was prepping for an overhead swing, then punching her out before Weiss could realize her mistake.

"Ow." Weiss commented painfully from her spot on the floor.

"Ha ha! That was very brave of you, charging someone who fights like me." She held her hand out and pulled Weiss to her feet. "You're a bit small to charge, but I know what you were trying to do. I'll be honest, it probably would've worked if you were here earlier, but that Belladonna girl did the same thing and got me."

"Blake was here already?" Weiss asked, rubbing her chest and retrieving her paper.

"The cat faunus, right? She an amazing fighter." Kani filled out Weiss' paper and handed it back to her. "You lost some points for trying to charge me like that, but you did pretty good. Seventy-eight points. Your weapon looks pretty dust heavy, may I see it?" Weis handed over Myrtenaster. Kani looked down the blade, tested the point, spun and observed the chambers, and generally gave the weapon a quick look over. "This is a nice weapon. I guess I put you out of your element without the dust, huh?" She smiled.

"Yeah, I've always fought with dust, or at least my semblance." Weiss admitted.

"Ha ha, nothing wrong with that. But these are tests, after all. Let's get you out of here and on to your other tests." Kani directed Weiss towards the door. "Send in the next kid. Good luck!"

Weiss did so as she exited, still massaging the center of her chest. "I hope I finish these tests alive." Weiss joked to herself.

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Weiss continued her clockwise pattern to the next room on the map, labeled 'Cheshire Fry.' Arriving at the door, there was no line, but the sign was up so she waited. Just a couple minutes later the door opened to reveal a very dizzy Jaune. "Jaune, are you okay?" Weiss rushed to his side to keep him from falling over.

"That damn cat." Jaune managed to get out before rushing out to the hallway and throwing up in a trash can.

"Ew." Weiss observed. "Can I go in then?" Jaune just waved her in instead of responding. "Thanks!" Weiss entered the room.

Unlike Kani's room, this room was filled with wooden posts of varying heights, creating what looked like a forest without leaves or branches. Weiss walked forward as she looked around, not seeing Cheshire Fry anywhere in the room. "Hello, my dear." A voice called from above and behind her. Weiss turned around to see the Huntsman hanging upside down again, this time from a wooden post just behind her. "How are you this fine morning?"

"I'm doing well, thank you." Weiss responded as she backed away from the startling green eyes, so much brighter and greener than anything she had ever seen before. "And you?"

"I'm marvelous." He answered, drawing out the 'ar' noise for an unnecessarily long amount of time. As he answered he pulled a silk top hat, seemingly out of nowhere, and plopped it on his head. Weiss could only stare, unsure how the hat was even staying on his head. But he didn't say anything else, opting instead to just stare at Weiss.

"Um… my test?" Weiss asked.

"Hmmm. Yes. A test. How about a game instead?" Cheshire Fry asked. "A lovely game. Like… hmm. Ah!" He snapped his fingers and pointed at Weiss. "You have to touch me once before I touch you three times." Him emphasizing the words that he did only served to creep out Weiss even more.

"Touch?"

"Punch, kick, poke, stab, crunch, lick, choke, cut, jab, stomp-"

"I get it. Thank you." This man was aggravating Weiss more and more by the second.

"Wonderful!" Cheshire Fry said, elongating his vowels once again. He thrust his hands into his cargo shorts' pockets, and immediately began pulling them back out. Weiss' eyes widened as the strange faunus pulled out what appeared to be metal claws, which could not have possibly fit inside those pockets. "Let's play!" He said with a wicked grin, his eyes maniacally wide. Weiss suddenly had the feeling she was in a very dangerous position.

Hoping to end this 'game' before she could get hurt, Weiss drew and swung Myrtenaster in the same motion, not caring about hurting him, only touching him. Just as her weapon was about to touch him though, his form became hazy, and Myrtenaster passed straight through where Cheshire Fry was a moment ago, where now only a faint cloud of lavender smoke remained, drifting away lazily.

"Too slow." She heard a whisper in her ear, her head jerking to the side to see Cheshire with his face just inches away from Weiss'. Weiss brought her hand up to try to make contact with him, but it passed right through the lavender haze he left behind.

"Damn it!" Weiss was more aggravated than she could ever remember being. How do you hit someone who can disappear? Before she could formulate a plan, she felt something touch the top of her head. She ducked away, swinging her weapon up, once again impacting nothing.

"That's one!" She heard his voice giddily echoing through the room. Weiss then made a decision that she would stab this man, not punch, or kick, or poke, or anything else. She hated him.

Trying to focus herself, Weiss stood extremely still, examining her surroundings. She closed her eyes, trying to focus and listen to her surrounding for any sign of movement, since she couldn't see him. As she sat there, she felt something touch the tip of her nose. Her eyes jerking open, she was greeted with Cheshire Fry standing so close in front of her that their noses touched. Going against her decision to stab him, Weiss brought her knee up in an attempt to knee the infuriating cat in the crotch. She was once again unsuccessful as she heard his voice echoing around the room. "That's two! You're about to lose!"

Weiss, realizing she must be doing terribly, tried calming herself as she tried using all her senses to locate the disappearing faunus. Wait, Weiss thought to herself. He thinks it's a game. Not a test. He'll try to do the fun thing, not the smart one. Realizing this, Weiss closed her eyes again. She waited, and just seconds later she felt a slight disturbance in the air in front of her. Without opening her eyes, she thrust her head forward, and was rewarded with solid, painful contact.

Weiss opened her eyes as she rubbed her head, and was rewarded with seeing Cheshire Fry also rubbing his forehead. He looked at Weiss warily. "I hope that hurt." Weiss said, clearly displeased with him.

"It did. How rude." He responded. "But you won!" He threw his hands up in the air, empty of the claws she had seen earlier. Where the blazes did he keep those things? And the hat? Weiss went to pull her paper out of her picket, but found it wasn't there. She spun in a circle as she looked around the room, worried about dropping it. As she completed her spin, she saw that Cheshire Fry had it, and was holding it out to her.

"How …? Never mind." Weiss gave up trying to understand this insane enigma. She accepted it and saw that he had not in fact given her a score, but had drawn a smiley face. "My score?"

"No score! You win!" He yelled animatedly. "You must play again sometime! I won't even have to go so easy on you next time!"

"I'm going to have to take a rain check on that."

"Send in the next contender!" He yelled, disappearing once again.

Weiss left, wishing the next student good luck as she hurried away, eager to be away from such chaos.

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Making sure to hurry away from Cheshire Fry's room, Weiss found her way to the one last room before Tamamo's, labeled 'Vimentis'. There was a line outside of his door, which gave Weiss some time to sit and just let her pent up frustration from the previous test ease out of her.

"You look like you just came from Cheshire Fry's room." Weiss looked up and saw Pyrrha walking up to her to wait in line behind her.

"Ugh. Yes." Weiss groaned.

"I saw him first. It definitely was. . . different."

"Understatement of the century." The two girls laughed, making small talk while they waited in line.

The line moved quickly and soon they arrived at the front of the line, Weiss parting with Pyrrha to take her turn at Vimentis' test. Closing the door behind herself, Weiss strode into the room. It was another empty room, devoid of anything but Vimentis, sitting cross legged in the middle of the room.

Vimentis yawned. "Come sit." He nodded at the cushion in front in him.

Weiss sat on her knees in front of the sleepy man, and noticed his eyes were still closed. "Good evening, sir."

"Terrible evening." He corrected. "I want to go to sleep." Was this man really a huntsman? Then again, if Cheshire Fry was a huntsman, Weiss supposed anything was possible. "How strong is your aura?"

Weiss wasn't prepared for the sudden question, and stammered. "Um, uh. Average I guess? Maybe a little stronger."

"Hrm." He grumbled. "Describe it to me. How you use it in battle." Weiss blinked. He was just going to question her?

"Um. Well. I use it to strengthen and reinforce my body, as we're all trained. I also use it as an energy source for my semblance." Weiss explained.

Vimentis waved his hand dismissively. "That's fine. I want you to summon your aura. Pull it into yourself, hold as much as you can." Weiss obeyed. "You're correct in your assessment. Average indeed. Mostly a dust fighter, right?"

"Yeah." Weiss responded curtly. She realized she was the one who said she was average, but hearing him say it so dismissively was still slightly insulting.

"Well that's to be expected then. We all have our strengths." Suddenly Weiss' paper flew out of her pocket and into his outstretched hand.

"Hey, what?" Weiss watched as a pen flew out of his pocket, and marked the paper with a score of seventy. The pen flew back into his pocket, and the paper drifted lazily over back to Weiss, waiting for her to snatch it out of the air.

"You pass. Send in the next one." Weiss could only assume it was his semblance or aura he used, but she'd ask another time.

Opening the door, Weiss told Pyrrha it was her turn. Pyrrha nodded in thanks and wished her luck as Weiss left for Tamamo's room, up the stairs.

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There was no line in front of Tamamo's door, so Weiss waited and for whoever was in there to come fetch her. The wait was a short one, with Blake soon exiting and greeting Weiss. "Your turn. I'll wait for you in the great hall, okay? We'll talk there." Weiss waved bye as she entered Tamamo's rom.

"Hello!" Tamamo greeted. "How were your tests?" she asked, holding her hand out for Weiss' paper.

"They was definitely a variety of tests." Weiss replied, hoping to keep her response fairly neutral as she handed over her paper.

"My, my, you definitely put that nicely. I know what they did to you, no need to be so delicate about it!" Tamamo laughed. "These tests were designed to make you do poorly or fail." She read over the paper in her hands. "Oooh, you did quite well. You even got a smiley face from Ches! How cute!" Tamamo could only giggle.

"Not quite the word I'd use." Weiss grumbled.

This only made Tamamo laugh harder. "He does take some getting used to." Tamamo stood and walked over to stand in front of Weiss. "Well then. Ready for your last test?"

"I am."

"Excellent." Tamamo's hand shot forward, impacting hard against Weiss' stomach.

Weiss staggered backwards, hand over her stomach. Before she could voice her confusion and astonishment, she saw the knife sticking out of her side, where Tamamo had struck her. Blood was pouring down off the blade, dripping onto the floor. Weiss could only stare at the wound, then the evilly grinning Tamamo, then the wound. "Why?" Tamamo just shrugged in response.

Weiss was surprised. The wound didn't hurt the same way she thought it would. It was a dull, radiating pain, not quite the sharp fiery pain she expected. She gripped the dagger's hilt and tugged, trying to pull it out. She couldn't pull though, it was hurting too much. Was this part of the test? Was she-

Wait. Couldn't pull it out? Weiss didn't even budge the knife when she tried. Surely she should've at least moved it a little before it hurt? She looked at the knife again, then the smiling Tamamo. Weiss straightened her back. And then calmed herself, focusing and clearing her mind.

It didn't hurt the way it should. It didn't respond the way it should. Tamamo said it was a test. She looked down at the knife again, at the blood dripping off of it. Weiss noticed she wasn't feeling any weaker, curiously enough.

The knife's not real. Weiss thought to herself. Is this the test? Weiss straightened her posture once again, before focusing her mind on that thought- the knife isn't real. The knife isn't real. The knife isn't real.

Tamamo started clapping in front of her, jumping up and down. Weiss looked down, and saw that the knife was gone. There was no blood, no cuts in her clothes.

"You did it! Congratulations, you pass!" Tamamo exclaimed excitedly.

"What… what did you do?" Weiss asked.

"It's my semblance. I can make illusions." Weiss blinked as there were suddenly three images of Tamamo standing in front of her. "My test is to see if you can look past what you see on the surface of something. Because lies and illusions can kill you too, if you believe it." The illusionary Tamamo clones disappeared.

"But it still hurts."

"Well, I did punch you."

"Oh."

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Shoutout: I'd like to thank Pozsich for his assistance in creating the character Denarii Latium, the assistance and inspiration was much appreciated!


	8. Reunion and Loss

Weiss found Blake sitting at a table in the great hall, alone. The only other students in the great hall were still walking through the fortress to their remaining tests. "Are we the first ones done?" Weiss asked, sitting down opposite of Blake.

"I believe so. You get stabbed too?" Blake asked.

"Yeah. I think I'm bruised now." Weiss complained, rubbing her side.

"I think that last test may have been a little unfair in my favor. I knew it was a trick almost right away because I couldn't smell any blood." Blake said, leaning one elbow on the table and resting her head on her hand. The girls traded stories about their tests, comparing scores and discussing the veterans who tested them.

As they spoke, Weiss brought up a question that she had been pondering ever since she had finished their tests. "So is it just me, or are these instructors of ours a few steps above the hunters we normally meet in the city? Don't get me wrong, some of the huntsman and huntresses we meet in the city are plenty strong, but we're about the same as them now. And even after all our training, I get the feeling the ones here could fight circles around us while they're sleeping."

Blake scratched her cheek absently with her free hand. "Maybe it's because they live out here in the wilds, fighting Grimm all the time." She gestured to the fortress around them. "And this isn't the most luxurious of places, even though it's big, so they don't get soft. And let's be honest, a lot of the hunters in the city take jobs that aren't very demanding. We've seen peacekeepers with the police, guards at the city edges, and private security by the wealthy and by companies. Jobs that involve mostly standing around trying to look intimidating, and not necessarily fighting."

"That makes sense." Weiss agreed. "And these guys are fighting Grimm almost every day. We'll definitely learn a lot by being here."

"I hope so." Blake said. "I can't get into the fight soon enough."

"How do you think everyone else is doing?" Weiss asked, looking at the stairway towards Tamamo's office.

"I dunno. Some of these tests were definitely different. I scored well, but the only test I feel like I successfully completed was Kani's." Blake admitted.

"She told me about that," Weiss said, remembering her conversation with the warrior woman, "she told me you beat her by quickly closing the distance when she raised her weapon. I tried to do the same thing but she countered it because she said you did it, and remembered it." Weiss finished with a grumpy pout.

Blake could only chuckle. "Sorry for spoiling your victory."

Further conversation was paused thanks to the noisy arrival of Nora, and her shouting "I did it!" before leaping over the table to sit down with Weiss and Blake. "You both passed too?" Both Weiss and lake nodded their confirmations. "Yay!"

The girls sat and continued their idle chat as the rest of the students dribbled in after completing their tests, until eventually the rest of students had gathered and were waiting for their next orders. Eventually even the veteran hunters had finished testing the students and were waiting in the hall for Tamamo to come down to issue orders. Their wait was a short one, and as evening approached Tamamo strode into the hall.

"Evening everyone! I have some words for you all." Tamamo announced. She paused for dramatic effect, looking at all the students anxiously staring back at her. "Everyone passed!" Everyone continued staring back blankly. "Well, this wasn't exactly a test. I just said that so you would try your hardest. We just needed to observe and judge what your strengths and weaknesses were so we knew how to train you. This," she held up a piece of paper, "is a list of who will be your trainer while you're here."

Tamamo slapped the paper onto a table at her side. "Ozzy told me you need to be done training fast. This means I don't have time to give you all a full training regimen. If you're 'okay' at something, I'm ignoring it- you can work on it at your own time. If you're bad at something, we'll try to make it passable. And whatever you're best at, we're working on that the most." She ticked off her fingers as she listed her points. "We'll be making you specialists. If you survive the war and feel like you want more training like us, feel free to come back." She giggled.

"But today was probably a bit stressful for you, so you're free to do what you want until tomorrow morning. The assignments will let you know where and what times you meet tomorrow. I recommend using some of your time today learning your way around the fortress. I also recommend not leaving the fortress and going into the forest. It's a bit dangerous out there, and I'd rather you didn't die while I'm teaching you.

"There are beds everywhere. Sleeping arrangements are up to you. You can move beds between rooms, you can share beds, whatever. You could probably sleep one person to a room and still not fill up all the rooms here. The key to a room is hanging on the door. If there's no key, room's taken. Don't ask us about it. If you want more keys cause you're sharing a room, go talk to Kani in the foundry. Any questions? No? Excellent. Go do your thing." She made a shooing motion at everyone, then waved her instructors over to talk to them privately.

Weiss was the first one to the assignment sheet, searching for her name on the list. Her search was brief; her name was second on the list, under Blake's.

_Weiss Schnee: Denarii Latium, Tamamo Mae- Map Room; Floor 3; 0700 hours._

Weiss couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as she saw that she wouldn't have to work with Cheshire Fry. She was sure that spending more time with him than she already had would be the death of her. She sat down at her seat again and programmed her meeting tomorrow into her scroll while she waited for her friends to finish checking their assignments.

They soon rejoined her, all of them discussing their assignments. "Who are you working with, Weiss?" Blake asked. Weiss answered, and asked Blake in return. "I'm working with Tamamo and Cheshire."

Weiss' eye twitched involuntarily. "Cheshire Fry?" Weiss hugged Blake. "I'm so sorry."

Blake just stared at Weiss, confused. "You don't like him?"

"He's insane!"

"Really? He seemed like a perfect gentleman to me." Blake replied, looking over at Cheshire Fry. He was sitting with the other Tamamo and the others, cross logged on the top of a table while elegantly sipping a cup of tea, his top hat on his head once more.

Weiss stared at the purple haired maniac, who now seemed to have adopted the mannerisms and behavior of a wealthy, prim, and proper nobleman, with the exception being that he was sitting on a table. "I'm beginning to think we may have had entirely different encounters with him."

"Got that right." Velvet answered as she sat next to Blake. "He asked me to play a game where we leaped from pole to pole for ten minutes. He was singing the whole time. And Nora said that all she did was talk to him and he was very gentlemanly, and very witty."

Jaune and Pyrrha, who had rejoined them and sat next to Weiss, stared at Velvet. "He only spoke to Nora?" Jaune said, his face incredulous. "He told me to fight him and ended up teleporting circles around me until I got sick."

"He didn't even say anything to me. He just kept teleporting around me and tripping me until I managed to grab him and stop him." Pyrrha added. Everyone looked at the strange cat faunus.

"We shall never know his mind." Jaune said sagely. Everyone agreed.

They saw all the instructors separating, and Tamamo, in her preferred form of movement, skipped towards their table animatedly. "Bunny dear!" She joyfully exclaimed as she approached. "Velvet, right?" Velvet nodded nervously. "How's the ear?"

Velvet reached up and touched her injured ear. "It doesn't hurt anymore, actually." She responded with surprise. "I hadn't thought about it until just now. Thank you!"

"Hee hee, anytime. You have other burns, right? I see those bandages. Come with me, I shall apply more lotion!" Tamamo extended a hand towards Velvet, as if inviting her to a dance.

"Um, uh," Velvet began, clearly uncomfortable with letting Tamamo rub lotion onto her body.

"Oh wait, I'm not sure how much more I have." She turned around. "Cheshire! Where's the thief? Go get him!"

And in a voice Weiss was positive couldn't be coming from the same Cheshire Fry she met earlier, Cheshire responded, "Of course, milady." Setting down his cup and bowing from his seated position, he disappeared.

"A thief?" Pyrrha asked. "You have a dungeon here? I didn't think anyone would try to steal from a fortress."

"Hmm? Oh, no he didn't try to steal from the fortress. He steals for the fortress." Tamamo corrected.

Tamamo had someone who stole for them? It wasn't like hunters lacked resources, why need a thief? Her pondering was interrupted as Cheshire returned, leading a tanned, blond man wearing a white button down shirt and blue jeans. "Is that Sun?" Blake whispered to Weiss. Sun Wukong was a good friend of Blake's, following their encounter during their first year at Beacon. He had fast become good friends with RWBY and JNPR as well, and often met up with them when he was in town for whatever reason that a thief was in town.

"Whoa, who're all these people?" Sun exclaimed as he approached Tamamo.

"My new trainees! Isn't this exciting?" Tamamo quipped.

"Does this mean I'm not the lowest rung on the totem pole anymore?" Sun asked hopefully, clasping his hands together in front of him.

"No, you're still mine." Tamamo replied with a smile.

"Dammit."

"Sun, what're you doing here? We haven't seen you in almost a year." Blake asked, drawing his attention to the table.

"Blake! I could ask the same about you. I work here." Sun quickly overcame his surprise and walked over to give a now standing Blake a quick hug.

"I'm training here, for the war." Blake responded.

"Ah, yeah. I heard about that this morning. That was unexpected." He looked across the table at Weiss. "Hey there, Snow Angel."

"Don't call me that, you brute." Weiss responded.

"I thought you were over that whole 'I don't like faunus' thing." Sun said, putting his hands up defensively.

"I am. I just don't like you." Weiss glared.

"Look, I flirted with you ONE TIME. It'll never happen again." Sun shuddered at the memory.

"Well. I see you already are familiar with each other." Tamamo interjected, grinning.

"We met years ago." Sun responded. "I told you about them, remember?"

Tamamo tapped her chin with a folded up fan she had pulled out of her sleeve. "Oh, the kitty cat you had a thing for who rejected you?"

"You didn't quite have to put it like that." Sun mumbled. The others at the table stared bemusedly at the suddenly shy monkey faunus.

"Ah, well. If you bat for different teams, then you can't play together, you know?" Tamamo spoke as if imparting wisdom of the ages.

"I'd really rather not talk about that." Sun said. He looked around the table at the others. "I don't see blond and busty. I thought she'd leap at the chance to fight in something as big as a war. Your girlfriend not here?" Sun asked.

Blake stiffened in shock. "Yang died at Beacon." She stated simply, unprepared for the abrupt change in subject to Yang. "And Ren too. And Ruby's missing."

Sun just stared blankly, processing the information. "Crap. I'm so sorry." His shoulders slumped as he sighed. "Man, I'm an asshole."

Tamamo slapped him on the back of the head with her fan. "Yes, you are."

At the same time, Blake waved her hands in front of her to calm Sun. "No, no, it's okay. You couldn't have known."

"Still, I shouldn't have… the way I…" Sun could only sigh again. "Well, sorry again." He repeated his apology to the rest of the table.

"No worries." Blake replied.

"He works here for you?" Weiss asked Tamamo in an attempt to change the subject as Sun stood there awkwardly.

"Yup!"

"Would you mind tell me how that happened? He doesn't really seem like the 'work' type." Weiss inquired.

"Please don't." Sun tried to object, but was overruled.

Tamamo laughed. "He isn't. Last year I was in the city, doing some shopping, meeting some contacts. The little monkey boy tried to pickpocket me." Tamamo grinned at the memory. "I guess he didn't expect me to be a huntress. I chased him down and caught him and tied him up in an alley. I made him a deal: Work for me, or go to prison. I think it was an easy choice." Tamamo finished, ruffling Sun's hair.

The others could only stare. "And that's true?" Velvet asked.

"Yes." Sun replied as he held his hand over his face.

"I liked his skills. They were good, but unrefined. So now I pay him to steal things I want to get my hands on, and he works here doing whatever I want. Cleaning, fighting, sex, shopping, driving-"

"I'm sorry, did you say sex?" Nora interrupted. Sun's face grimaced, clearly hoping his friends either hadn't heard that, or would overlook it.

"Yeah. He's not bad." Tamamo answered, patting Sun on the shoulder.

"Please stop treating me like a toy." Sun complained.

"Hey, you agreed to it." This only caused Sun to redden further.

"You-" Sun began.

"Anyways!" Tamamo changed the subject, having decided she had teased her servant boy enough. "I need you to go get some more of my lotion from the cellar. Take it up to my room. One case should be more than enough." Tamamo ordered cheerfully.

"Yes ma'am." He said with a defeated, half hearted salute. "I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?" Sun said as he ran off.

"Well seeing him here was unexpected." Weiss commented.

"Definitely. I thought he had gotten arrested or was out of the country." Blake admitted, drawing laughter out of the others.

"You think so poorly of my young toy. He would never get caught. By police." Tamamo laughed. "Anyway, Velvet. Why don't you meet me in my quarters after you get yourself a room?"

"Um, uh," Velvet once again articulated so elegantly.

"Tamamo, I think Velvet is concerned you may treat her like you treat Sun." Pyrrha commented.

"Oh, I would never do that. Not unless you agreed." Tamamo laughed. "No worries dear. I'll even carry you back to your room if you fall asleep." Tamamo said with a wink.

Velvet looked nervously to Blake. "I'm sure she'll be very courteous and polite." Blake assured her. Velvet looked between Blake and Tamamo, before finally nodding her head in agreement.

"Excellent. I'm at the top floor of those stairs. Can't miss it." Tamamo pointed to the door that led to her office. "Just keep going up. See you in a bit!" Tamamo skipped away up the stairs.

"Let's go pick our rooms, shall we?" Weiss said after the whirlwind of happiness disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Qrow crouched on the forest ground and touched his fingers to the dried blood that had been splashed on the tree trunk. In his other hand he held the shredded remains of a red, hooded cloak, also stiff with blood. In fact, the area around him was covered in the stuff. The grass, the shattered wooden logs and branches, the fallen leaves, the dirt. Everything was covered in a layer of dried blood that resembled rust. Scattered around the clearing were scraps of cloth and torn clothing, recognizable as belonging to Ruby.

"Maybe a day old." Qrow said to himself. The blood was everywhere, soaked into the ground in places, splattered. "Or just about." He stood up, holding the ruined cloak out in front of him. He had been tracking Ruby's trail all day, getting the feeling he was getting closer. When Qrow had followed the trail to this clearing, he felt a flash of fear as he smelled the blood.

Now, as evening fell, Qrow examined the area more closely. There were cuts in the ground and trees nearby, cuts he recognized were a result of his niece's scythe. Likely from a battle. With a beowolf pack, judging by the tracks. And a large one at that. The direction and numbers of prints told Qrow that the number of beowolves leaving was much smaller than the number of beowolves that arrived, which meant that Ruby had put up a fight, even as terribly wounded as she most likely was to have lost this much blood.

There were many spots where the grass and leaves were crushed and disturbed, as if a large body had lain on top of them, again most likely where the slain beowolves had fallen before fading away into nothing. After searching the area for many hours, what was most disconcerting for Qrow was that no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find any traces of Ruby leaving the area.

All he could piece together with the information he had was that Ruby had been lying down, possibly sleeping. Then beowolves attacked, catching her unawares, resulting in some grievous injury, but Ruby fought back, slaying many of her attackers. But after that, all Qrow could find were beowolf tracks leaving. He even checked the trees, in the hope that Ruby had fled up the boughs above to escape and run, but nothing but birds and insects had been up there as far has he could tell.

As much as it pained him, he was beginning to believe that Ruby had fallen to the Grimm, but he held hope that somehow he was wrong. Qrow pulled out his scroll, calling Ozpin. Ozpin answered quickly, his image popping into existence on the screen. "Yes?"

"I found the end of Ruby's trail." Qrow informed the tired looking headmaster. He pointed his scroll's camera at the disturbed area around him. "There's blood everywhere, and signs of beowolves that attacked her in the night." He paused to swallow the lump in his throat. "There are no signs of Ruby leaving."

Ozpin stayed silent for a few moments. "I'm sorry, old friend. There's no body?"

Qrow shook his head. "Just the occasional little bits of flesh." His eyes searched around himself. "I'm going to keep looking. Maybe I'm missing something, or her trail starts up again somewhere else farther along."

Both Qrow and Ozpin thought it was a long shot, but Ozpin nodded anyways. "Good luck. I hope you find something." Ozpin said. Qrow closed his scroll, and began searching the woods with what little light remained, trying to find something, anything that indicated his niece was still alive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weiss was leading the way as they walked through the halls of the fortress, looking for rooms to claim as their own. Everyone agreed that being too far away from the main building was out of the question in case they needed to be ready quickly, so they were searching the second floor of the main building for rooms. Within minutes they came across a hallway that looked like the other students hadn't found yet, as nearly all the doors appeared to still have their keys hanging from the doors.

A quick examination proved that the rooms were nearly all identical. They had stone floors covered with thick, patterned rugs, and the stone walls were mostly bare. A single queen sized bed sat in the corner of each room, with white sheets and a thick red blanket. There was one large closet and one large dresser, and a nightstand with a lamp. There was an electric fan in the room as well, next to a full body mirror. A small desk, two simple wooden chairs, and a bookshelf were also present in each room. There was even a miniature refrigerator for storing things that they didn't want kept in the kitchen or dining hall. While each room had the necessities, and even a luxury or two, it also left plenty of room for personalization.

Weiss claimed the room closest to the stairway, so she could get to the great hall for any meeting quickly. "So I can get to the great hall more quickly if we get called out." She explained.

Blake could only laugh at Weiss' insistence on being the perfect student. "I'll take the room next to yours then."

Velvet grabbed Blake's hand as she lifted the keys off the door handle. "Um, is it okay with you if we share a room?" Velvet asked timidly.

"Of course." Blake answered with a soft smile. "Why don't I go get another key for you while you go see Tamamo?"

"Thank you Blake!" Velvet was delighted that Blake agreed to share a room with her, especially since Velvet didn't want to be alone. Velvet waved as she strode off to wear Tamamo's quarters were.

Nora claimed the room just across the hall from Weiss', while Jaune and Pyrrha took one together farther down the hall. As Blake was about to head to the foundry in search of a second key, Nora stopped to ask the group, "Does anyone have a bathroom in their room?" Everyone stopped, not having given it any thought. Weiss glanced back into her room as Blake stuck her head into hers.

"Nope." Both girls replied.

"They're down here!" Jaune called from down the hall. The three girls walked over to where Jaune and Pyrrha were standing to find the bathrooms. On one side of the hall was the men's bathroom, and across from it were the women's bathrooms.

The girls entered, leaving Jaune behind, to inspect the facilities. After going down a short hallway and around a corner, they entered the bathroom. "It resembles a community bath, if anything." Pyrrha commented. Showers lined the two side walls of the spacious room, with a large bath in the center. The wall in which the door was situated was lined with faucets and mirrors, and the back was had private stalls for those who didn't want to shower in the open. A quick inspection of a second door to the side revealed another hallway with spacious toilet stalls.

"This is a really nice bathroom for such an old castle." Weiss commented. "They must really take care of the place."

"Yeah. At least we'll have nice soaks." Blake agreed.

They left the bathrooms to find Jaune still standing in the hallway where Pyrrha had left him. "Heyo. I'm gonna go get another key with Blake while you set up the room, okay?" Jaune gave Pyrrha a quick peck on the cheek before leaving with Blake.

"Well then." Weiss began. "Shall we tour the place before we go to bed?"

"I'd rather tour with everyone. Shall we eat dinner first once Blake and Jaune return?" Pyrrha suggested.

"Yes! I'm starving!" A famished Nora responded.

"Let's all meet back out here once those two return then." Weiss said. "And Velvet too, I guess." Weiss pulled out her scroll. "I'll message her to meet us in the kitchen or great hall when she's done."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In her quarters, Tamamo Mae was lying on her fluffy, king size bed and examining her scroll as Denarii Latium stood just inside her door, hands clasped behind his back.

"What do you think of the new prospects?" Denarii asked.

"Promising." Tamamo replied. "Some of them at least." She was reading the instructors' analysis of the students. "Most are disappointingly standard." Tamamo continued dismissively. She was unimpressed with the tests of most of the students. They had heart, sure, but not very many of them were of the caliber she would have liked. "Only a few show great potential. Weiss Schnee, here."

"Schnee?" Denarii asked. "Of the dust company?" he thought back to the students he tested. "The one with a talent for tactics and strategy." He recalled.

"Yes. She shows great promise in that field. And in single combat." Tamamo looked up at Denarii. "You will need to train her hard. With her mind, she will be a leader of men, a commander of soldiers." Denarii nodded. Tamamo looked back at her scroll. "Belladonna has a great head for combat, it seems. She beat Kani today."

Denarii's eyes widened. "One of those children beat Kani?" He knew that was no easy feat, and was quite impressed. He himself only won about two or three matches out of ten with Kani.

"Two, actually." Tamamo continued. "Nora Valkyrie nearly smashed Kani into the ground, apparently." She laughed.

"Valkyrie… ah. The one who was terrible with strategy. She will definitely not be leading soldiers in the future." Denarii remembered the Valkyrie girl took unnecessary risks, and was wild with her tactics. "Or at least, not large groups. She may do well with a smaller squad."

"I concur." Tamamo's eyes darted back and forth on her scroll. "Nikos and Arc. They appear to be well versed in tactics as well." She continued reading. "And it appears they are dating."

"A relationship could get in the way." Denarii was a strong believer in maintaining no emotional attachments that could compromise rational thought in battle.

"Or it could strengthen them." Tamamo suggested. "Keep them together. Make them learn to think like each other. If we could have a pair of commanders that could think like each other, imagine how powerful they would be on the battlefield."

"I see your point." Denarii pulled out his own scroll and made a note to do so.

"Scarlatina… high dexterity and speed. Fairly average elsewhere. Infiltration, recon, scouting... what do you think?"

"I can't see why not." Denarii shrugged. "Though her tests may be skewed due to her injuries."

"True. I'll test her again a different way after she's healed." Tamamo consented. They spent a few more minutes discussing other promising students before they were interrupted by footsteps approaching the door.

The footsteps stopped outside Tamamo's door, and were followed by a knock. Denarii looked to Tamamo, who nodded. Denarii turned to open the door to find a young faunus standing there nervously, wringing her hands nervously. "Can I help you, trainee?"

"Hi, um, I was told to come here…" Velvet answered quietly.

"Oh, there you are dear. Come on in, We were just finishing up." Tamamo said cheerily, hopping up off of her bed. "Come sit here." She said, patting her hand on her bed. "Dani, why don't you give the others our notes about the students," She handed him her scroll, "so we can divvy up locations and schedule our training sessions after tomorrow."

"Yes, Commander." Denarii bowed before leaving and closing the door silently behind him.

"Well then," Tamamo began, turning back to Velvet. "Why don't you disrobe?"

"W- What?"

"I can't really put on the lotion if you're still dressed, can I?" Tamamo giggled.

"O- oh. I guess." Velvet stuttered.

"Do I actually frighten you, or are you just embarrassed?" Tamamo asked in a more serious tone.

"…A little bit of both?" Velvet admitted.

Tamamo could only laugh. "I'll tell you what. If you really don't want me to do it, I'll have Sun take the lotion to your room and you can have your girlfriend put it on you. How's that sound?"

"Girlfriend?" Velvet asked confusedly.

"The cat. Belladonna, I believe?"

Velvet blushed furiously, waving her hands in front of her. "Oh, no no no, she isn't my girlfriend."

"Oh? My bad. You were looking to her so much I thought that was the case." Tamamo apologized.

"She's… just a good friend." Velvet said, drawing circles on the ground with her toe.

"Just a good friend, huh?" Tamamo asked. "Unrequited love, then?"

"No! Well, um... no. I don't know. It's just…" Velvet took a deep breath. "Her lover and girlfriend died just a couple days ago. Yang was amazing, and I don't think I could ever take her place. I've liked them both for forever, but I never thought a relationship would ever be a thing since they were together. They were always so nice to me, and…" Velvet trailed off, realizing what she had just told someone who was basically a complete stranger. "Oh my gosh, please forget I said anything!" Velvet began tearing up.

Tamamo just gave a soft laugh before putting her hands on Velvet's shoulders. "You loved both of them, and now that one is gone suddenly your feelings are out of balance. I get it." Tamamo ruffled Velvet's hair affectionately. "I'm sure she's looking to you for comfort as much as you're looking to her."

Velvet wiped the tear that had begun falling from her eye. "I'm just scared of losing her."

"And I'm sure she's scared of losing you too." Tamamo patted her cheek. "In the meantime, I'm sure your burns have been paining you. Do you want me to give you the lotion so you can ask your friend?"

"No, it's okay. I don't mind if you do it." Velvet sniffed.

"Excellent. Go ahead and get undressed then, and lay down on the bed. Face up first." Tamamo walked over to the small wooden chest while Velvet began removing her clothes. Opening the chest, Tamamo began looking at the different bottles of various lotions she had concocted, searching for the one she wanted. Finally finding it, Tamamo turned around to see Velvet lying down on her bed, nude. "Oh my. That's quite a bit of burn damage, isn't it?" Tamamo walked over and began loosening and removing the bandages that covered a significant portion of Velvet's body. "This must hurt something fierce."

"I can manage." Velvet replied with a grin.

"You don't have to manage it anymore, this stuff will make you feel better." Tamamo waggled the bottle of lotion. The bottle was clear, and looked like it contained the same stuff that she had used on Velvet earlier. Tamamo finished removing all the bandages and threw them away. "I have more." Tamamo assured Velvet. "Now just close your eyes and relax."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weiss and the others were in the giant kitchen of the fortress, cooking their own meals. Well, more precisely, Blake was cooking all their food. The rest of them knew that they couldn't cook as well as Blake, so they assisted with the manual labor side of things- chopping, fetching water and ingredients, measuring, mixing. Blake did the rest of the more complicated tasks.

"Where did you ever learn to cook this good?" Jaune asked, lugging in two enormous fish, one over each shoulder.

"Yeah, it's delicious!" Nora complimented, sticking her finger into a sauce pan and licking off some sauce that Blake had finished mixing earlier.

Blake slapped the back of Nora's hand gently. "No sampling the goods." Blake gave a fond smile as she continued frying the vegetables she had in the pan in front of her. "I learned from Yang. She loved to cook, and found a new recipe to try every week. Eventually I got caught up in it too." Blake began stirring the sauce Nora had sampled in with the vegetables, the sauce browning them slightly as she turned up the heat to cook the sauce into the food.

"I wish I could cook like this." Pyrrha said longingly, skinning the potatoes Jaune had fetched earlier.

"Me too. Last time you cooked you nearly put me in the hospital." Jaune added with a grin. Pyrrha could only blush as she focused intently on skinning her potatoes, pointedly avoiding looking up at her friends, who were laughing at the memory.

"It's not like you're any better, Jaune." Nora poked Jaune in the tummy. "Remember when you tried cooking pancakes for us and they all ended up as charcoal?"

"I got distracted and forgot about them, okay?" Jaune said defensively as Weiss made a disbelieving comment about the idiocy required to mess up pancakes.

"Weiss, can you keep mixing this while I prep the fish?" Blake asked as the other three bickered about each others' cooking.

"How long?" Weiss stepped up to the stove, taking over stirring the vegetables in the pan.

"Until I say stop." Blake answered from behind her while beginning to gut and descale the fish.

"How can you tell?" Weiss looked over her shoulder to see Blake wasn't looking.

"I can smell it." Blake laughed.

"Oh yeah." Weiss had forgotten about Blake's extremely sensitive sense of smell.

Not long after that, They all sat down at a table in the great hall, setting up a table for themselves. They had two large plates, each with one of the fish, fried and sautéed with onions and the sauce Blake had mixed up. Also on the table was a plate of baked potatoes and a bowl of mashed potatoes, and a dish of gravy. A smattering of different vegetable dishes was also spread out on the table, thrown together to add variety to the dinner. A few other students looked on jealously, but Weiss figured that if they wanted to have food like this they could either pay Blake or ask for lessons. As they sat down, Weiss noticed an empty set of silverware and a plate set up next to Blake. "For Velvet?" She asked.

"Yeah. In case she comes back before we finish." Blake answered.

"Looks like you made the right call." Weiss nodded over Blake's shoulder, who turned around to find Tamamo carrying a dozing Velvet into the great hall.

"Ah, there you guys are. Excellent timing." Tamamo cheerily said as she shuffled over. "Velvet here got sleepy during the massage." She slid Velvet onto the seat next to Blake. "Velvet dear! Wake up and eat some dinner." Velvet groaned before opening her eyes groggily. "She'll be fine. And in return for my magnificent massage and use of my lotion, I demand food!" Tamamo walked into the kitchen a grabbed a plate, and returned to grab a little bit of everything. A slice of fish, a baked potato, a small pile of vegetables. She took a bite of the fish. "Mmm! So good." Tamamo moaned in appreciation. "Who made this?" Blake raised her hand slightly. "You are an excellent cook. We shall have to share recipes sometime. Thanks for the food, enjoy!" And as quickly as she had arrived, Tamamo was gone, back up the stairs.

"…What just happened?" Weiss asked.

"I think we just traded a massage for food." Blake speculated. Velvet, who was leaning on Blake shoulder, began to stir. "Velvet, wake up and eat." Blake gently shook the sleepy faunus. Velvet slowly sat up and began to rub her eyes. "Was the massage really that good?"

Velvet let out a sensual moan. "Oh, so good. It was heavenly." Velvet finally opened her eyes. She froze, and her eyes darted around the table. "Did I just say that in front of everyone?"

"Yes." Nora snickered.

"Not again." Velvet could only groan in embarrassment and she covered her face.

"Was it really that good?" Blake laughed.

"Y- yeah. The lotion works really well. I can't even feel the burns anymore." Velvet moved her arm and shoulder around for emphasis. "And she's really good at massaging the lotion in." Velvet admitted, blushing again.

Everyone just laughed. "Well anyways." Pyrrha redirected the conversation. "Before we get started." She held up her glass of water. "To our friends, who will be remembered."

Everyone held up their glasses. "To our friends." Everyone toasted.


	9. The End of a Day

Weiss could hear an incessant beeping noise. She was not pleased. Her hand groped around the nightstand next to her amazingly soft and warm bed. It took longer than normal for Weiss to finally get her hands on her scroll and shut off the alarm; she did just have her first good and full night of sleep since the stressful events began days earlier. Weiss looked at the time glowing softly on her scroll. 0530 hours. "Ugh." Weiss' face thumped back down onto her pillow. She would part with all her ownership shares in the Schnee Dust Company if it meant getting a full, uninterrupted night of sleep in this comfortable bed.

Giving up on sleep and finally shutting of her alarm, Weiss rolled over and sat up while stretching her arms up above her head. Yawning, Weiss swung her legs over the edge of her bed and stood up to arch her back for a pleasant stretch. There was a distinct lack of sunlight coming in the window, so Weiss moved to investigate. A glance up at the sky revealed dark rainclouds blanketing the morning sky. Weiss sighed at the dreary dawn then walked to the closet and found it stocked with a variety of generic articles of clothing, in a variety of sizes. She made a mental note to speak to the quartermaster and request her own clothing, or at least clothing in her size. Grabbing a long, cotton bathrobe, a pair of slippers, some washcloths, a towel, and a white toiletries bag, Weiss unlocked her door and stepped out into the hallway. The stone floor was cold, so Weiss briskly power walked down the hall before the chill could seep into her slippers.

Jumping into the bathroom, Weiss was greeted by a wave of warmth. The large bath in the center of the room had been filled, and steam was slowing drifting off of the surface. Either someone had been in here before Weiss, or the caretakers in the fortress had prepped the baths before everyone else had woken. Whatever the explanation was, Weiss was glad for the warmth. She tested the water in the bath, and found it to be pleasantly hot. Removing her bathrobe and hanging it on a wall hook, Weiss left the toiletries bag on a sink and carried her towels and washcloths with her to the bath and placed them on the edge for when she was finished. Weiss stepped into the bath, savoring the heated water swirling around her feet. Sinking into the bath, Weiss could only let out a contented sigh; bathing in the creek was pleasant enough because it got them clean, but it was no heated bath.

The pale skinned huntress spent a few minutes just soaking before deciding to actually wash her body with the provided supplies. The large selection of shampoos, conditioners, and soaps was surprising to Weiss, but she indulged and spent a few minutes investigating each one in an attempt to find one she liked. Coming across a shampoo and body wash brand that smelled of roses, Weiss found she couldn't resist. It reminded her of her partner, who she missed dearly. I wonder if I could get in touch with Professor Ozpin. He may have an update. Weiss mused.

Weiss used one of her washcloths to soap up and clean herself, lazily watching with fascination as the soap then sloughed off her body was taken by the light current to a filter and removed from the bath. Once she felt she was sufficiently clean, was stood up and stepped out of the bath, standing with just her feet in the water, allowing some of the excess water to stream off her body and back into the bath. After Weiss felt she was sufficiently clear of water, she stepped out and began drying herself. Footsteps at the entrance to the bathroom indicated to Weiss she was no longer alone, and she turned to see who had joined her. Weiss' eyes found Nora, who was also dressed in a bathrobe, shorter than the one Weiss had used.

"Morning, Weiss!" Nora chirped with a wave. "Are you just finishing up?"

"Yes, I have to meet with my instructors soon." Weiss answered. "You?"

"Yup. I'm meeting with Kani at 7:30!" Nora said as she disrobed and hopped into the bath in a single action. Weiss wasn't surprised at all that the hammer wielding ball of energy would be training under the veteran axe wielder.

Weiss donned her bathrobe again and made her way over to the sink where she had left her toiletries bag and opening it to pulling out the toothbrush and toothpaste so she could finish her morning hygiene. "I'm off to finish getting ready, good luck with your first day of training." Weiss said over her shoulder.

"You too!" Nora splashed.

Tying closed her bathrobe, Weiss made the short journey back to her room. Weiss searched through her closet, looking for some clothes that fit her. Settling on a pair of skinny jeans and a black t-shirt, Weiss also opted to throw on a white, hooded sweater that was only a little too large and her normal boots, since she couldn't find another set of shoes. Weiss grabbed her scroll and checked the time, 0628 hours, and decided she had time to grab a small breakfast. Descending the stairs back into the great hall put Weiss right next to the kitchen double doors, allowing her quick access.

Weiss pushed open a door and entered, only to nearly run directly into Denarii Latium, who was rustling through the refrigerator. He looked up at the disturbance. "Miss Schnee. Good morning."

"Good Morning, Mr. Latium." Weiss responded with a small bow at the waist.

"Just call me 'Instructor' or 'Latium.' Even I am not that formal here." Denarii said, pulling out ingredients for a sandwich from the refrigerator.

"Yes, Instructor." Weiss corrected. "Will I be meeting both you and Tamamo at the same time today?"

"No, just me. Both Tamamo and I have decided you have a powerful grasp of tactics and strategy." He began spreading mayonnaise on his bread." I will be responsible for training you in that regard. Commander Tamamo will be working with you later on leadership, mostly. She will also work with you on combat skills." Denarii finished as he put the deli meat and veggies onto his sandwich.

"Leadership?" Weiss asked while grabbing a blueberry muffin.

"Decision making, emotional filtering and control, rhetoric, behavioral psychology. Despite appearances, the Commander is the best leader I've ever worked with, huntress or soldier." Denarii answered, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Do you have anywhere you need to be before we meet?" Weiss shook her head. "Follow me."

Weiss followed Denarii while snacking on her muffin. He led the way up through the fortress to the map room, Weiss following silently behind him as they each ate their respective breakfasts. Arriving on the third floor, they entered the map room. Weiss was surprised at the grand size of the room- the round metallic table with a glass top in the center had a nearly ten foot diameter, and the walls of the room were covered in bookshelves filled with books. There was only one window, but thick black curtains blocked the view. The dimly lit room had a smaller, desk sized table off to the side, and only a small number of soft, amber colored lights hanging from the ceiling.

"As I was saying," Denarii suddenly began while setting his now empty plate on the desk, "Commander Tamamo feels you have a gift for tactics and strategy, and would make a powerful leader." Weiss had a sudden flashback to her first days at Beacon, when she was furious at Ruby for being the leader of team RWBY, and the lecture Professor Port had given Weiss when she went to him with her complaints. Those complaints seem so childish now as she looked back at them. "And so that is what we will be training you for: a leadership position. When we are done training you, you will be commanding the men and women in battle against Vacuo."

Weiss' eyes widened in surprise. "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"How long will my training be?" Weiss asked.

"For you? Approximately three months. Depends on how quickly you learn and prove yourself." Denarii answered.

"That quickly? That seems awfully quick."

"You are already skilled, and we will be pushing you hard. You will only have two to three lessons per week, at most, from each of us, but you will have many assignments and exercises between each of our meetings." Denarii explained. "Make sense?"

"Yes, sir." Weiss responded.

"Excellent. One moment please." Denarii lifted a small hatch on the edge of the metallic table, revealing a command console. His fingers dashed across the console, dimming the lights further. The table's surface also began to glow, and a simulated three dimensional map popped into existence on the table. "We will learn by doing. I will lecture as we work." He walked around the table to the opposite side of the console he was using, and opened another hatch to reveal a second console. "You will use this one. The commands and controls are simple, and expansive. Work on them for five minutes on your own. I will answer any questions you may have. After that, we will run scenarios and review after each one. Let us begin."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you sure?" Ozpin asked his guest.

The man in front of Ozpin was tired, dirty, and disheveled. "…Yes." The man's light grey suit was worn and wrinkled, his silvery hair in disarray, his eyes downcast.

"What brought about this decision, Kälte?" Ozpin asked Kälte Schnee, owner and CEO of the Schnee Dust Company. "You've never been the most..." Ozpin searched for a polite word to express his thoughts, "supportive… of my academy, or that your daughter was a student there."

Kälte looked like he was about to throw his hands up in frustration, but only for a moment. Instead he folded further into his chair, holding his head in his hands. "And what has my behavior earned me? A wife who left me. A daughter who hates me. A company of backstabbing bureaucrats who wouldn't blink an eye if I were to die today. But even I believe that I brought this upon myself."

"We all make mistakes, Kälte. We both know this." Ozpin commented.

"Yes. But some more than others." Kälte sighed. "I love my daughter. And my wife… ex-wife. Even if they don't feel the same. And I know I've done nothing to deserve their love." Kälte's eyes glazed over and unfocused, looking into his memories and his past. "This is why I will do this. I have all the lien in the world, and no one to spend it for. You can use as much of my money as you need to restore Beacon Academy as quickly and as extravagantly as you want." He grimaced at himself. "A lifetime of choosing my company over my family has left me with more than enough money for this."

"I'm sure Weiss will eventually be pleased with your assistance." Ozpin said in an attempt to bring some small measure of reassurance to Kälte.

Kälte just snorted derisively at himself. "Surprised, yes. Pleased? Not with my contribution. A single, caring deed is not enough to tip the scales against a lifetime of neglect."

"But it's a start."

Kälte just grunted ambiguously before standing up and turning to leave the tent. "I suppose I should go make the arrangements at the offices." He shook Ozpin's hand before walking out of the tent, pausing at the flap. "I tried to be the father Weiss deserved, I really did. And I failed in a most spectacular fashion." He said before disappearing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blake twirled her katana frantically, deflecting the onslaught of metal blades that Cheshire Fry was directing her way. Even without his teleportation, Cheshire was a whirlwind of blades, constantly keeping Blake on the defensive. Parry left, duck down, leap back, block high, a dozen other actions per second. Blake could hardly believe someone could move so fast and still retain their balance and momentum. She hadn't been able to counterattack once the entire lesson.

"You're fighting like a human!" Cheshire yelled and he leapt at Blake, claws leading the way. "Fight like yourself!" As his right claw connected with Blake's katana, he twirled in the air, using her blade as an anchor to quickly pivot and twist around her katana, lashing out with a vicious thrust kick that connected solidly with Blake's stomach, throwing her across the room. As Cheshire fell to the ground upside down and facing the ceiling, he twisted again in the air and landed on all fours like… well, like a cat.

Blake fell to her knees, one arm over her stomach, the other propping herself up with her katana. "What's the difference?" Blake groaned, sweat dripping off her face. She definitely did not imagine in her wildest dreams that someone could turn in the air and then kick as hard as Cheshire just did. "Human or faunus, how does that affect our fighting style?"

"Because we aren't human." Cheshire smirked. "Obviously."

"I don't really understand." Blake staggered to her feet.

"How come you don't fight like that delightful pink lass?" Cheshire asked, replacing his blades into his pockets. Blake tried her best not to let her confusion and curiosity over how such long blades ever fit into small pockets show on her face. "The one with the magnificent hammer."

"Nora? Because I could never lift her hammer and swing it effectively, and it's not…my style." Blake thought she was beginning to see what Cheshire was talking about.

"Not your style." He said with a grin. "You're fighting against your body. Move the way your body wants to, and you'll find the way you fight now is just a little crazy."

Blake grinned. "Thank you. I'll give it some thought and practice."

"Marvelous." Cheshire smiled a toothy smile in return. "I've sent your schedule to your scroll."

"Okay." Blake continued massaging her stomach. "This was a painful lesson. But you made your point clear, so… success?" Blake chuckled.

Cheshire's smile faltered slightly. "Only the insane equate pain with success, love." His smile returned, seeming more a mad grin than smile. "Now run along. You know what to work on."

"Alright. Thanks." Blake said with a wave, leaving the room. Cheshire gave a lazy wave and a yawn before disappearing, leaving only his trademark purple haze behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tamamo was sitting at her desk, checking her planner to see who her next student of the day would be. She hummed a lullaby to herself as she lazily flicked through her scroll. "Weiss Schnee." Tamamo read. "The smart one."

She continued reading the notes the other instructors had given her about the young heiress. Vimentis was unimpressed with her aura capabilities, but grudgingly admitted that she used it reasonably well for her own purposes. Kani liked with Weiss' ability to plan during a fight, but felt she didn't quite have an instinctual grasp of combat yet. Cheshire's thoughts were along the same lines as Vimentis'; He thought she could plan well, but didn't have the fast reaction times and instincts that could save herself if she was alone in a pinch out in the field. Denarii's glowing assessment was only further proof of what the others thought- Weiss was a born strategist and tactician. She could plan, think ahead, and strategize with the best of them. And with Tamamo's help, Weiss would be even better.

A knock at the door brought Tamamo out of her thoughts. "Enter!" Tamamo sang. The door handle turned and Weiss Schnee poked her head in. Tamamo gestured toward the chair opposite her, "Have a seat."

Weiss walked over and gently sat down at the offered chairs. "Thanks. And good afternoon."

"Good afternoon to you as well. How was your lesson with Dani?" Tamamo inquired.

"It was a lot of work. He's very good at forcing me to think critically and quickly. We did battlefield simulations on this big holographic map. I quite enjoyed it." Weiss responded.

Tamamo laughed. "He's been looking for an excuse to use that simulator for a long time. I'm glad he found someone who also will enjoy it." Tamamo straightened her outfit. "Has Dani told you what you will be working on?" Tamamo asked.

Weiss nodded. "He mentioned some combat training and leadership skills." Weiss answered. Tamamo nodded. "Though I still don't quite know what exactly 'leadership skills' entails."

"Well the quickest way to explain would be to just jump right in, don't you think?" Tamamo said cheerfully. "Let's start with understanding the people around you." Tamamo tapped her finger on her chin. "The kitten. Belladonna."

Weiss cocked her head to the side slightly. "What about her?"

"How about her strengths and weaknesses?" Tamamo suggested.

"Um," Weiss though for a few seconds. "She's very agile, flexible, and athletic. She is good at pinpointing weaknesses in her opponents in fights. She can be extremely quiet and move stealthily." Weiss went quiet as she thought about Blake's weaknesses. "She isn't very strong, so against tough, heavily armored opponents she doesn't do well. When she gets overwhelmed, she'll charge in without thinking. Large groups of enemies at once also aren't her strong point, she'd be better at single opponents or small groups."

"Okay. But how about as a person?" Tamamo asked.

"As a person?" Weiss had to think hard about the question. She wasn't very good at understanding other people. "She's calm, most of the time. But when she finally loses control of her emotions she can go a bit wild. She doesn't talk about her problems, even with close friends. She's gotten better about that over the years though." Weiss tried to come up with more, but other than some little behaviors, Weiss had to grudgingly admit to Tamamo that she didn't really know very much about Blake, or any of her friends, when it came to the things Tamamo was asking for.

Tamamo giggled. "No worries, Weiss. It's not something a person normally thinks about. But I'll teach you what to look for, how to remember it, how to analyze it. And soon, you'll have the knowledge to use those under your command to their full potential, or to manipulate your enemies. Or to manipulate your allies if the need arises."

"That sounds like a terrible thing to do to your allies." Weiss said in surprise.

"You'd be surprised what needs to be done at times." Tamamo explained. "Some people just don't understand how to work for the greater good and need to be…shown the way." Tamamo laughed. "Let's start a lecture, shall we?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Weiss closed her scroll as the lesson ended. "Do I have an assignment of some sort?"

"Hmm…?" Tamamo looked at the ceiling as she pondered. "At our next lesson, I want you to be able to tell me one new thing about each of the students who came along with you." Weiss was about to complain that the assignment was too simple, but was cut off by Tamamo holding up her finger. "Without talking to any of them." Tamamo added.

Weiss blinked confusedly. "Without talking to them? So talking to their friends?"

"No, I want you only to watch. Learn something about them from by watching their behavior, eavesdropping, hearing others talk about them. Don't ask about the people you're interested in." Tamamo explained.

"…Okay?" Weiss agreed, still concerned about trying to learn about so many students at once. "Will I have enough time?"

"You'll have a week. This isn't going to be like school. You will have almost no time for socializing, or relaxing." Tamamo answered.

"Yeah." Weiss agreed. "That makes sense." Weiss stood up to leave. "Oh, do you happen to know Professor Ozpin's contact information?"

"Oh, into older men are we?" Tamamo joked. "Ozzy's a little old for you. You'll send Glynda into a fit if she hears about this." Tamamo was giggling at the mental image of a furious and frazzled Glynda Goodwitch.

"No!" Weiss exclaimed, mortified. "I just wanted to see if he had any information on a friend who went missing after the Beacon attack."

"I see. Well your scroll won't work here, the fortress blocks the signal. We have a communications room, though." Tamamo offered. She looked up at the clock. "I have time to take you, off we go!"

Weiss had to jump up and jog behind Tamamo. The huntress was far taller than Weiss, and had much longer legs, so Tamamo's long strides were forcing Weiss to jog behind her like a child. Weiss kept her complaints to herself though.

They were only on the move for a few minutes, climbing two separate sets of stairs before they arrived at their destination. "Here we are." Tamamo sang. She opened the door to a room filled with various types of communication equipment. "Ozzy, right?" Tamamo began typing in her pass code and the contact information for Ozpin. "There. It's calling." Tamamo stepped back. "I'll still have to be in the room for the call. If I leave the equipment will lock itself again. So no lovey-dovey stuff, okay?"

Weiss ignored the joke and sat in front of the monitor. It beeped before a few moments before the screen came to life, showing an image of Ozpin adjusting his scroll so that the caller could see him as well. "Yes, Tamamo? Is something…" He stopped at seeing Weiss, "ah, Miss Schnee."

"Good afternoon, Professor Ozpin" Weiss greeted.

"Hiya Ozzy!" Tamamo added from behind Weiss.

"Good evening, ladies. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Ozpin asked.

"I was hoping you might have some new information about Ruby. Did anyone find her?" Weiss asked hopefully.

"Well…" Ozpin looked off screen.

"Just tell her straight, Ozzy. No beating around the bush." Tamamo chided. "What's the news?"

Ozpin sighed. "Miss Rose's uncle, Qrow, went searching for her yesterday morning. He found and followed her trail through the woods, and came upon the sight of a battle." Ozpin told Weiss about Qrow's report- Ruby's injury and the number of Beowolves. "Qrow spent all of yesterday and all of today trying to find some of her tracks leading away from the fight, but he's had no luck. There is no sign of Ruby outside of the area for miles."

Weiss could feel her heart skip a beat, and her eyes start to water up. "But there's still hope, right? She's not gone?" Weiss begging quietly.

Ozpin stayed quiet. "There's… no body. If that is any comfort." Ozpin said. "If you want my opinion Miss Schnee, Ruby is gone." Weiss stifled a cry. "There's no body, no tracks, and blood everywhere. Qrow is doing his best to continue his search, and I will of course keep you updated. But I hold no illusions about how bad this looks for Miss Rose. I am sorry."

Weiss nodded through her tears. "Thank you for the information, Professor." Weiss cut off the call. She felt Tamamo put a hand on her shoulder and give it a gentle squeeze of comfort. "I should've gone to find her." Weiss said.

"And what good would that have done?" Tamamo asked. "You aren't a trained tracker, and don't have the experience Qrow does."

"But, I should've done _something._ Not just… left. I left her alone in the woods, and now she's dead, and, and…" Weiss cried.

"There wasn't anything you could have done. You made the right decision, coming here. Here, you can do good." Tamamo said, kneeling in front of Weiss and putting her free hand on Weiss' other shoulder.

"If I made the right decision, why do I feel like a failure of a friend? I left the person I love alone in a forest, and now she's dead. A the end of the day, what can I say that would make this feel like it wasn't my fault?" Weiss was stared at her feet as tears dropped from her eyes.

"Weiss. Look at me." Tamamo used a finger to lift Weiss' chin so the she was looking into Tamamo's eyes. "Sometimes, there are no words. Sometimes you can do everything right. You made all the right choices and did everything you possibly could. And you will still feel like you failed. You can ask yourself 'did it really have to end like this?' and try to find the words to make it feel right. But like I said- sometimes, at the end of the day, there are no words to make the pain go away. Sometimes… whether you want it to or not… the day just ends."


	10. The Strength of a Master

Blake found herself staring at a door, unsure of how she had arrived there. The door was a carved from beautiful polished wood, which Blake thought might be walnut due to the smell and dark coloring. It was decorated with swirling vines, leaves and flowers that were etched lightly into it. The door handle looked as if it was made of cast gold, its curved form shining and glimmering in the dim hallway light. She reached out for the door handle, suddenly curious about what lay on the other side of the door. Blake grabbed the handle and tensed her arm as if to turn it, but stopped before she could apply any pressure, suddenly anxious.

 _Why does this door make me so nervous?_ Blake thought. She pulled her hand away from the door handle, but the tips of her finger were still touching it gingerly. Blake stood in place as if frozen, but was merely trying to figure out what about this door was so worrying. Coming up with nothing, Blake resolved to open the door. She grasped the handle once again and twisted. It was at this point that Blake discovered the door was locked, the handle only jiggling slightly rather than actually turning as she wished. Blake put more pressure into her arm to try to force the handle, unsuccessfully.

Blake tried to turn the handle again, desperately willing it to open for her. She looked to either side of her at the other doors lining the hallway, hoping there might be an open door, or someone with a key. Her search was in vain; Blake was most definitely alone in the hallway. She finally gave up on trying to turn the handle, settling for lightly stroking her hand down the door once, feeling the intricate patterns carved into the door. "Why won't you open? What's in here?" Blake whispered to herself. "I don't want to be alone out here anymore."

Blake brought up a fist to pound on the door, hoping that somebody on the other side might open it for her. Blake moved her arm forward and-

-woke up. Blake was staring at the stone ceiling in her room, situated in the fortress. "That dream again." Blake mumbled to herself. She had been having that dream every night since they had arrived at the fortress a week earlier. The dream was nearly identical every night; she was standing in front of a door that made her uneasy. Small variations in the amount of effort she put in to open it or what she said to herself were the only changing details. And like every night for the last week, she felt the dampness in her clothes that told her she had woken up in a cold sweat.

Blake sighed to herself. Because of these night sweats, she was going through twice as many sets of night clothes with her changing halfway through every night. She was going to have to find a way to make it up to the caretakers who did all their laundry. Blake made to sit up, and instead found herself pinned to the bed. Velvet had an arm wrapped around Blake's stomach, and her other arm was firmly but loosely grasping Blake's arm.

Maybe she's the reason I've been waking up sweating. Too much body heat. Blake chuckled to herself. Velvet had her own bed opposite of Blake's, which they had dragged in their room the first night after dinner. She had yet to use it though, preferring Blake's companionship, and Blake did not mind. Blake only worried she may be the cause of some discomfort for Velvet with her nightly sweating and clothing changes, but as far as Blake could tell, Velvet had slept through it all, blissfully unaware of Blake's new nightly routine.

Blake quietly and gently worked herself out of Velvet's embrace and slipped out of the bed, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands as she worked her feet into the simple rug she had procured to protect their feet from the cold floor. She stood and walked over to the closet, picking out another white t-shirt and a pair of black shorts. Blake stripped out of her sweaty, damp clothes, throwing them into the laundry basket before wiping herself down with a towel and donning the new clothes. As Blake returned to her bed, she patted down the blanket and bed sheets where she was laying, and found them sufficiently dry. At least I'm only changing clothes and not bed sheets every night. Blake mused, silently climbing back into bed and wrapping her arms around Velvet, who curled into Blake appreciatively, as Blake returned to a now dreamless sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Very good, Weiss." Tamamo congratulated. "You're learning very quickly. How long did you spend observing each person, on average?"

"About thirty minutes at the beginning, but by the end of the week it only took a couple minutes." Weiss answered, just barely containing her pride at the praise. She had worked hard for this, after all. Weiss had thrown herself full speed into her training, constantly studying and watching her former classmates. She memorized every detail she could, and analyzed the details for information about the person. Weiss had spent her mealtimes observing everyone else in the great hall, and spent her free time in the massive library, studying books on all sorts of subjects. Psychology and behavior were her main subjects she focused on for the past week, at Tamamo's recommendation. Weiss had split her time between that and the mountains of texts on tactics and strategy supplied by Denarii.

Weiss had spent little to no time with her friends, which she regretted, but Weiss kept telling herself after their training, then after the war, there would be all the time in the world. But for now she needed to get stronger and smarter, so she trained. The only time spent with her friends was dinner each evening. This had happened after their third day at the fortress, when they discovered that all of their training schedules did not quite line up when it came to free time. The discussion that came about after this discovery resulted in the group agreeing that they would make time for dinner each night, so they could still see each other.

When they finished their lessons and training, each of the group would make their way to the kitchen to help with cooking. It usually only took a span of about half an hour for everyone to arrive and start cooking. A couple days into this arrangement, Blake suggested spending a little more time cooking so they had a good meal prepped for lunch the next day as well, which everyone heartily agreed to. They kept these extra lunches in the mini-fridges in their rooms, which could easily be reheated the following day during their respective lunchtimes.

Their dinners were spent talking about training, and what they had learned or seen that day. Weiss, only ever working with Denarii and Tamamo, got to know the other hunters serving as instructors through the stories that she heard from her friends. Pyrrha and Jaune thought that Vimentis was an eclectic mix of unbelievably lazy and absurdly powerful. According to the duo, he taught them many amazing things about using and manipulating aura, but would occasionally fall asleep during lessons. Thanks to his training, Jaune's already powerful aura was slowly but surely becoming even more powerful, and Pyrrha was quickly learning to use her aura with her semblance to make it stronger and more accurate over distances. They did both complain that they had yet to see Vimentis open his eyes, which bothered them slightly.

Blake and Velvet insisted that Cheshire was a great teacher as well, but Weiss refused to believe them. Weiss did notice that Blake did seem to carry herself more confidently once the lessons with him had started, and her muscle definition had definitely starting toning up. Nora had said nothing but praise about Kani as well, admiring her strength and skill. Out of everyone, Weiss thought that Nora had changed the most during the training. Nora rarely smiled and joked around anymore unless she was training, and contributed little to conversations without being prompted first. Weiss was worried that being alone was taking its toll on Nora, because she had been so used to being with Ren all the time. Weiss was used to being alone from her life before Beacon, so she adjusted quickly, but thought maybe she should make an effort to spend some extra time with Nora.

"I do have a little bit of unfortunate news for you today though, Weiss." Tamamo said.

"Oh?" Weiss responded, curious.

"Vimentis has sensed a herd of Grimm moving through the forest, and their path may lead them to the city to the southeast if they shift slightly. I'm taking Vimentis and Kani to deal with it soon, so I won't be giving you your combat lesson today." Tamamo explained.

"Do I have an assignment then to make up for that?" Weiss asked.

"Nope! You'll be sparring with Sunny instead." Tamamo continued. "He'll be evaluating you for me, and teaching you what he can.

Weiss raised an eyebrow incredulously. " _Sun_ is going to teach me?"

"I realize you aren't very fond of him, but give him credit where it's due, he's an excellent fighter. And he's only gotten better since I've been training him." Tamamo laughed.

"Couldn't I shadow you instead?" Weiss pleaded. "I would love to see you and the others fight."

Tamamo sighed while checking the clock on her wall. "Hmmm…" Tamamo hummed to herself. "Fine. But you do need to fight Sunny first, at least for a short while. He's waiting for you in the fourth combat room." Tamamo stood, smoothing out her clothes. "Meet us in front of the gates in an hour. Hurry along now, get going. Try to get in as much sparring as you can with Sunny so I can see what best to work on there. We need to go get prepared. If you're late, we're leaving without you." Tamamo waved Weiss off.

Weiss bowed and rushed out of the room, hurrying down to the ground floor where the combat rooms were located. She was eager to get this over with. Finding the metal door with a large '4' written in white paint on it, Weiss barged in unceremoniously. Sun Wukong, who was lying on the floor, jumped as Weiss startled him with the noise. "Damn, that was sudden." He complained. "What's the big rush?" he asked as he stood up.

"We need to work quickly. I'm leaving with Tamamo in an hour." Weiss explained quickly.

"An hour? Oh, so you're going with her to fight the herd of Grimm?" Sun scratched his head.

"Yes, now let's get started! What're we doing?" Weiss gestured to indicate he should hurry up.

"Hold your horses, Princess." Sun held up a hand. "Rushing is just going to make you careless. Take it easy." He waited until Weiss calmed down slightly. "Great. Now, you need to warm up and stretch?" Weiss shook her head. "Alright, let's start then." Sun pulled on a pair of leather gauntlets that Weiss recognized as part of the attire he used to wear all the time, but now with metal strips running up the forearms and a metal plate over the back of his hand. There were also metal studs fitted around his knuckles, which looked like they could be removed and exchanged with other attachments. Sun slid one foot back into a fighter's stance; his weight was evenly distributed between his legs and brought his arms up to guard.

"You're not using your staff?" Weiss asked, drawing Myrtenaster from her side.

"Nope. Don't need it." Sun responded, bouncing lightly to loosen his legs.

This only infuriated Weiss, who felt that Sun was being insulting and doubting her abilities as a huntress by not using a weapon. With a glare, Weiss dashed forward, propelling herself at Sun using a spinning white glyph on the ground. Myrtenaster darted forward in her hands, aiming for Sun's chest in an attempt to get him to move backwards, possibly unbalancing himself in a panic. As the point neared, Sun stood his ground, then whipped his arm across his body and back, his armored gauntlet parrying the rapier off the his slide. Weiss only had an instant to be surprised before she noticed she had over reached in her anger and began losing her balance, falling towards Sun.

Sun, who had still not moved, brought his other hand forward with the strength and power of a piston towards Weiss' exposed stomach. Reacting on instinct and surprise, Weiss summoned a second glyph, this one black, directly in front of her as she used her momentum to spin to her right side, trying to flow around Sun before he could continue his counterattack. She heard his armored fist connect with her glyph, the spinning black symbol protecting her from his attack. With much surprise and a hint of fear, Weiss heard a crack coming from her glyph, and the sound of shattering glass as the glyph shattered and disappeared before her eyes.

As she continued past the monkey faunus, Weiss saw Sun's smirk; he was clearly satisfied with himself at having surprised Weiss so completely. Weiss made her way farther away from Sun, hoping to put some distance between them so she could more rationally approach him, this time without underestimating him. That was her plan, anyway. When she had thought she was clear and behind him, Weiss felt her foot catch on something, tripping her and causing her to spill to the floor. Spinning over on the floor and bringing Myrtenaster up to guard, she saw that Sun's prehensile tail had wrapped around her ankle as she had moved past, tripping her and keeping her from distancing herself from him.

Weiss swiped at the offending tail, causing Sun to let go and pull it back before Weiss could sever the end of it from the rest of Sun Wukong. "Hey, watch the tail!" Sun exclaimed in surprise, leaping up and away from Weiss. Weiss used the opportunity to leap to her feet, Myrtenaster held up in front of her in a guard position. "You're too hasty to close with your opponent." Sun told Weiss while he inspected his tail for damage. "You have a powerful semblance, and dust. You should use it more often." He continued. "Tamamo should be able to teach you better ways to fight with your semblance. She's really good at stuff like that."

Weiss lowered her guard, figuring that Sun wouldn't attack her while talking. "Using my semblance can take away a lot of my energy really quick. It tires me out, so I try to only use it sparingly." Weiss explained.

Sun scratched his chin. "Do you always make your glyphs the same size?"

Weiss was startled by the question. "Yes?"

"Try making that black one. The shield-y one." Sun ordered. "But make it smaller. The size of my fist." He held up his fist by his head for reference.

Weiss blinked, the thought had never occurred to her to change the size of her glyphs. They were what they were. Weiss conjured up a spinning black glyph in front of her, but it was the same size as usual.

"Smaller." Sun said.

"I'm trying!" Weiss said in annoyance. The glyph slowly began to shrink, flickering between its normal size and the size of a large dinner plate. Focusing more intently on her glyph, Weiss finally stabilized it, maintaining it at the size of Sun's closed fist. "I didn't think I could do that."

"Hooray for learning experiences." Sun chuckled. "It's probably taking a lot less energy now, right?"

Weiss stood silently, unwilling to admit that Sun was correct. This smaller glyph took far less energy to maintain than it previously larger counterpart. "But now it doesn't cover as much."

"Does it have to?" Sun asked. "If you're blocking a punch, and you can see it coming, make it the size of the punch. Save you a ton of energy. And you can hit them back, while you're at it." Sun added.

"I suppose." Weiss felt that admitting Sun was correct was not physically possible for her, and that saying vague agreements along the lines of 'I suppose' was as close as she could get.

"Why don't you practice that for the rest of the time then?" Sun suggested, putting both his hands behind his head. "I'm more than a little aware you aren't particularly fond of my company." He laughed. "And Tamamo should be pleased enough with this to teach you more tricks with your semblance."

"…I'll do that." Weiss stayed silent as Sun leisurely strolled towards the door. "Thanks."

Sun stopped midstep. "What was that?" He asked, turning his head jokingly.

"I'm not saying it again." Weiss grumbled before turning her back to Sun. She could hear the monkey laughing as he closed the door behind him. Mumbling her displeasure, Weiss spent the rest of the session practicing, creating different glyphs of different sizes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blake was strolling down the hallway, having just finished another lesson with Cheshire Fry. He had greatly approved of the improvements Blake had make to her fighting, and spent the day teaching Blake about increasing her less combat oriented skills, such as climbing and hiding, and other infiltration and stealth oriented skills. She had a whole list of things to practice now, and was grateful for the distraction from her dreams. Blake was brought out of her thoughts when a door a little farther down the hallway opened and Weiss exited. "Good afternoon, Weiss." Blake said.

"Hello, Blake." Weiss said as she dabbed some sweat off her forehead with a handkerchief. "Done with your lesson?"

"For today, yeah. What about you?"

"I finished early because Tamamo has to go get rid of some Grimm." Weiss' eyes brightened up. "I'm going with her, do you wanna come along?" Weiss asked. "I'm sure it'll be a great learning experience."

"Sure. When are we leaving?" Blake asked.

Weiss consulted her scroll. "Ten minutes? We're meeting by the front gate."

"We should get moving then." Blake suggested.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ten minutes later, Tamamo led Vimentis and Kani out of the fortress to the waiting students. Vimentis was wearing what appeared to be his favorite style of clothes- grey slacks and a black businessman's overcoat. Except this time, much to Weiss' surprise, his hair was brushed and the coat was fully and correctly buttoned, hiding his white button down shirt she assumed he was wearing. He also looked a little bulkier than she remembered, probably because of the coat. Kani was wearing her leather and hide battle attire as well, but she had added some bone armor plates here and there with some metal strips similar to the ones she had seen on Denarii and Sun's armors. Weiss and Blake briefly wondered if Kani had crafted all of the armor her comrades wore.

"Bringing a friend, huh?" Tamamo asked lightheartedly as she saw Blake standing alongside Weiss.

"I hope you don't mind." Weiss said a little sheepishly.

"Not a problem." Tamamo assured her. "Some ground rules for today." She held up a finger. "First, you don't fight today. You stay behind and above us, away from the Grimm." She held up her other hand to stop any complaints. "It not that we think you can't do it. We have a… system. That, and you've probably never seen a Grimm herd, have you?"

"We've dealt with packs of beowolves before." Weiss said.

"A pack of beowolves is small, compared to a herd." Tamamo informed them. "There will be a lot more Grimm than you're used to. And bigger ones than are in the Emerald Forest at Beacon." Weiss recalled the Nevermore and Deathstalker they had fought during their initiation to Beacon, and was going to mention them, but decided against it for now. "Okay. Second, if we tell you to run, you run back here and tell Dani and Ches that we told you to run. They'll know what to do, got it?" Weiss and Blake nodded. "Good. I'll come up with other rules as we go if needed. For now, we run. Vimentis."

Vimentis, who had been nodding off sleepily against the gate, stood upright and stretched his arms. His eyes were still closed. "Southwest." He said simply. Tamamo led the way, starting at a brisk jog that eventually sped up into a moderate run. She spent most of her time leaping happily from tree branch to tree branch, running on the forest floor only when no tree branches were immediately available. Vimentis was right behind her on the ground, occasionally correcting their course through the forest when they veered too far in one direction. Blake and Weiss were side by side at a distance behind him, with Kani taking up the rear.

Blake nudged Weiss' shoulder with a finger. "You see anything strange about Vimentis?" she asked between breaths.

"His eyes are still closed." Weiss answered. Throughout their run, Weiss had noticed that despite his eyes being closed, he was still navigating the forest easily, leaping over tree roots, rocks, and gaps in the ground with ease.

"Well, that too." Blake consented. "But look at how he runs." Weiss looked forward again at Vimentis, and watched his as he ran, leaping over obstacles and ducking under others. Not noticing anything wrong at first, the more Weiss watched the more she felt like something wasn't quite right with the way Vimentis moved. Each one of his steps seemed to last for more than three of Weiss' steps, which gave off the appearance that he was running slowly. Weiss also saw that not only did he stay in the air longer with the slightest of jumps, he didn't impact the ground the same way the rest of them did when they landed. In fact, as Weiss passed a spot where Vimentis had landed after a particularly high jump, she noticed he hadn't left any footprints in the soft soil either.

"How is he doing that?" Weiss asked.

"I have no idea." Blake admitted. "And I thought I was light on my feet."

"It's his aura and semblance." they heard from behind them. The girls looked over their shoulder to see Kani running right behind them, seemingly at a leisurely pace for her. "He can move things with his mind. He uses it to support himself when he runs and jumps." She explained. "His body is actually very weak, compared to yours and mine. But the strength of his aura, which he uses to power his semblance, is beyond extraordinary. So he holds himself up in the air to run as fast as Tamamo, who's the fastest of us."

Weiss looked forward again at Vimentis, who appeared to almost be floating along with each leap, as if gravity didn't quite have the hold on him it had on the rest of them. "That's amazing." Weiss said.

"It sure is." Kani said. "His aura is also the reason he doesn't open his eyes." In response to Blake and Weiss' curious looks, she continued with an explanation. "He can sense so much with his aura, and so far away, that the sensory overload gives him terrible headaches if he opens his eyes to see. He also wears earplugs, if you couldn't see them through his mess of hair." She stopped talking as they spent the next few moments jumping and leaping through a rough patch of boulders. "And that's also why he sleeps so much. The amount of information he's processing really tires him out." Weiss and Blake suddenly had a newfound respect for the man they thought was a sleepy bum.

Ahead of them, Tamamo suddenly stopped while perching on a thick tree branch, tail flicking back and forth behind her excitedly. She held up a fist as they approached, signaling them to stop. "They're just up ahead. I can smell them." Tamamo said while sniffing the air.

Now that they had stopped running, Weiss and Blake could hear and feel the ground rumbling beneath them. "How many Grimm are there for them to shake the ground like this?" Blake asked.

Tamamo turned to Vimentis expectantly. He cocked his head to the side, as if he was listening to something. Peering closely, Weiss could see the earplug Kani had mentioned and his hair fell to the side. "One hundred and six. They'll reach the meadow ahead soon." He said after a moment. "Boarbatusks." Weiss was impressed that he could get such an accurate count.

"There's your answer." Tamamo said with a grin and a nod.

"There are four large enough to be considered alphas." Vimentis added. "Very big ones."

Tamamo looked at Kani. "Those are yours." Kani nodded, flexing her muscles in preparation. Tamamo turned her head towards Vimentis. "You can take care of stragglers and any who try to flee this time. I'll break up their formation and try to contain them. Stay between the herd and the kids." Tamamo said, nodding her head at Weiss and Blake. "And you two, never go past Vimentis. Stay up in a tree at the forest edge." Weiss and Blake nodded. "Let's move out."

The group slowly made their way forward, not wanting to alert the herd before they were closer. At the forest's edge, Weiss and Blake realized that what they had fought previously was incomparable to what they were looking at now. The group of hunters was flanking a herd of Boarbatusks ahead of them. The Grimm herd was massive. What caught their eye though were the ones that Vimentis had dubbed the alphas. The alpha Boarbatusks were gargantuan, all four of them as big or bigger than the Deathstalker that Team JNPR had defeated in their initiation. The bone plates on them looked so thick that Weiss wasn't even sure her attacks would ever reach the beasts' skin if she attacked. "We're fighting all these things?" Weiss said to herself.

The two girls felt a tap on their shoulder and turned around to see Vimentis looking down at them. Well, kind of looking; his eyes were still closed. He pointed up at the tree above him. They nodded, Blake leaping up the branches with ease while Weiss did the same with her new, smaller glyphs. Vimentis turned back to Tamamo, who nodded. He unbuttoned his coat, slipping out of it and holding it to one side. It floated up to hang itself from one of the lower tree branches. Weiss and Blake hardly noticed the floating coat though, because their eyes were drawn to what Vimentis was wearing under his coat. The previous bulkiness of his coat was explained as they looked down at his back to see two dozen thin short swords strapped to his back, crisscrossing over one another. The sight was just baffling, because having that many blades seemed wholly unnecessary and excessive, until all twenty-four blades simultaneously slid out of their sheaths and fanned out, floating in a semi circle above his head.

Tamamo turned and looked at the huntress to her other side, who was unlimbering her great axe and rolling her shoulders with a grin on her face. "Have fun!" Tamamo giggled. With Tamamo's blessing, the huntress Hauonekani Jiwe let out a might roar, and charged at the herd of Boarbatusks alone. The herd jumped at hearing the battle cry, and the smaller members of the herd edged away as the closest alpha roared its own challenge back at Kani and charged right back at her. "I guess I'll join her too." Tamamo said in a voice that sounded as if she was considering leaving the herd to Kani.

Vimentis immediately turned away from Tamamo, holding his head painfully. "Not so close, please." He complained.

Weiss and Blake weren't sure what he was talking about, but then they noticed Tamamo glowing with a bright, golden, otherworldly aura. "Sorry." She apologized with a giggle. The glow was different from the auras that the girls had seen previously; the glow around Tamamo not only surrounded her, but had tendrils trailing of it and dissipating into the air like smoke, as if she couldn't contain the sheer amount of power radiating off of her. Tamamo looked up at the girls, her emerald green eyes glowing; Weiss and Blake could've sworn they saw flames dancing behind Tamamo's eyes. "Stay safe! And remember; don't move any closer than Vimentis." Tamamo squatted down at the knees and then leapt with such force that the ground where she was standing was left as a small crater.

"I hate it when she does that near me." Vimentis complained.

"Jumping?" Blake asked.

"No. Drawing on her aura. It's too much for me when she standing close. It's like looking straight into stadium spotlights that you're standing next to." He explained.

"Ouch." Blake commented.

"An accurate assessment." He replied.

"Is her aura really that powerful?" Weiss questioned. Vimentis' answer was just to point ahead of them, where Tamamo falling towards the ground at the center of the herd. As she impacted the ground, a deafening impact threw back both the boarbatusk and dirt in a wave, like someone throwing a boulder into a pond. When the dust settled, Tamamo was standing at the center of a group of dead boarbatusks, the closest ones to her unable to survive the shockwave of energy from her landing. The glow around Tamamo intensified further, and she now appeared to be a ball of energy that just happened to look like a faunus; rather than a faunus drawing on aura. "Wow." Was all Weiss could say.

"Wow." Blake agreed.

"This will be cool for you to watch for your first time." Vimentis told the girls, pointing with a sword at Kani, who was fast approaching the charging alpha boarbatusk. The closer they got to each other, the more that Kani looked like a small toy compared to the gargantuan beast, but Weiss was sure that this was all according to plan, as nervous as she may have actually been. Her fears were assuaged as Vimentis' prediction proved correct, and the girls were amazed at what they saw.

Kani was holding her great axe down behind her as she charged, and the boarbatusk lowered its head to run down Kani with its giant tusks. Right as soon as they were in front of each other, Kani stopped dead in the middle of running, crouching and bracing with her legs. The boarbatusk had thrown its head up to tackle Kani, but because Kani had stopped, his tusks fell just a hair short and exposed the underside of his head and neck to Kani. She swung up viciously, and her powerful swing connected with the underside of the alpha boarbatusk's neck, throwing the beast up into the air onto its back, crushing some of its brethren while its throat gushed blood. Kani followed up by leaping up onto the exposed stomach of the boarbatusk as it flailed, and swung her axe like a golf club into the side of the boarbatusk's neck, cutting through to the other side, nearly beheading it in the process. Hopping off the fatally wounded monster, Kani charged at the next closest alpha.

"Wow." Weiss observed again.

"Wow." Blake agreed once more.

Tamamo had not been idle during Kani's fight. Boarbatusk corpses littered the ground around her, all showing signs of being severely burned or being struck by severe blunt trauma. As a small pack of the creatures broke off and attempted to flee, an image of a glowing Tamamo appeared in front of them, causing the smaller creatures to skid to a stop in an attempt to change directions. The short pause in movement was plenty long enough for Tamamo to take advantage of, and she thrust her hand out, throwing a ball of pulsing golden energy at the small pack of Grimm. The ball of energy exploded as it reached them, consuming them in a ball of fire that left only ash and charred ground in its wake. The illusion of Tamamo disappeared, and the real Tamamo turned to attack the rest of the herd around her. All around her individual Grimm were trying to flee, but Tamamo used her illusions to great effect, scaring them back into her direction.

The ones that did escape Tamamo found no reprieve, as Vimentis' blades found and skewered them mercilessly. Only four of the original twenty-four blades remained at the telekinetic huntsman's side, the other twenty were flitting about the battlefield, dealing death to lone boarbatusk who attempted to flee or just happened to be separated from the rest of the herd.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The battle took just over ten minutes. All the boarbatusk lay dead or dissipating, and the ones that were dying but not dead were quickly finished off by Vimentis' flying blades. Kani walked back towards Vimentis and the two girls, holding closed a wound on her left arm. Her axe had gotten stuck in one of the alphas' skull plate, and she had to finished the last one without her weapon, leading to it goring her arm before she could kill it. Seeing this, Vimentis pulled a small medkit out of his coat and opened it, revealing some simple first aid supplies. He disinfected the wound while Kani sat on a tree stump before opening up his aura and pouring a huge amount into Kani, healing her wound with the energy. Afterwards he handed her a small towel to wipe away the blood, which she used to clean her axe rather than her arm.

Tamamo was still standing in the middle of the meadow, staring at the sky as the bodies around her faded into nothing. Kani and Vimentis continued preparing to leave while Weiss and Blake hopped out of the tree to the ground level. It took them a few minutes to find their words, having been rendered speechless after watching their veterans fight. When she could finally speak again, Weiss asked "How come Tamamo is standing out there? Is she okay?" Weiss took a step towards Tamamo, but was stopped when Kani grabbed her arm. Weiss looked at Kani questioningly.

Kani just shook her head. "You don't want to go near her right now." She said.

"How come? Is something wrong?" Blake asked.

"She needs to cool down." Vimentis answered.

"Is she hot from all the fire?" Weiss asked.

"That's part of it. Her body is emitting a lot of energy at the moment, so the air around her is probably hot enough to cook with, true. But I'm talking about her mind." Vimentis answered.

Before either of the two girls could ask what he was talking about, Kani explained it to them. "She's in a bloodlust right now. She's calming herself. If you approach her now, before she calms down enough to come here on her own, she might attack you." The two girls immediately stepped back from Tamamo's direction, knowing full well that if Tamamo turned her wrath on them they would last all of two seconds.

"That's… unbelievable." Blake said with hints of both fear and awe in her voice.

"It was a hard lesson for her to learn." Kani said sadly. "She accidentally killed her family after defending them from a Grimm attack when she was young."

"That's terrible." Weiss couldn't believe their happy and cheerful leader had such a dark mark in her past.

"She's fine in most fights." Kani continued. "But if she has to draw on large amounts of aura, she can lose control. That's why she isolates herself in a fortress away from people in the middle of nowhere, and tolerates Cheshire."

Weiss, who would have gladly never heard about Cheshire ever again didn't ask further, but Blake asked instead. "Does Cheshire do the same thing?"

"Not quite." Vimentis answered this time. "His wife and daughter were killed by thieves while he was out fighting Grimm, years ago. He blames himself for not being there to defend them. What Kani meant was that Tamamo and Cheshire are similar in behavior."

"Tamamo always smiles and makes an effort to be happy because she's sad, but doesn't want others to be sad." Kani said.

"And Cheshire's multiple personalities and his madness are his shield against the pain." Vimentis finished.

Weiss looked over at Tamamo, who was now skipping gleefully towards them, apparently without a care in the world. She appeared to have calmed down to her usual self, but after hearing what they had just heard, Weiss couldn't help but be a little anxious. Weiss' fears were unfounded as Tamamo arrived with a smile and a laugh, checking on Kani to make sure her wound wouldn't have any lingering effects.

"Nothing like a good day's work, right?" Tamamo asked cheerfully. "Let's head on back for some tasty food!" Tamamo's smile and laughter were the same as Weiss and Blake remembered, but as they looked in Tamamo's eyes the flames they thought they saw before the fight were gone. Instead they both would have sworn that there was a deep pool of sadness hidden inside of her, only visible to them now that they were aware of its existence.

"We really need to train if we hope to ever be as strong as them." Blake said to Weiss.

"No kidding. I feel like a child again." Weiss said in agreement.

"Oh, don't worry about that." Tamamo said from ahead of them as they walked. "We'll make sure you're plenty close by the time you leave us. I'll just push you harder!" Tamamo said with a familiar sadistic grin. "It'll only hurt a bit."

Over the next months, her statement proved all too true.


	11. A New Breed of Hunter

Professor Ozpin was bored. Many people would argue that he looked bored most of the time, but that was rarely the case. The aging headmaster was always thinking, always looking ahead to his next task, always planning something, never having the time for boredom. But today, Ozpin found himself in a rare moment of peacefulness. There was no paperwork on his elaborate cherry wood pedestal desk, no unread messages on his scroll, no contacts he needed to keep up with. Ozpin was at one of those points in time where all the things he needed to get done were out of his hands at the moment. And thus, he sat at his new desk with legs crossed, fingers tips tapping each other in front of his face, staring at the bare gray walls of the temporary school he had rented three months earlier. He was daydreaming of the future now, imagining the new Beacon Academy being built as he sat. A knock at the door brought Ozpin out of his reverie, and he blinked to bring his mind back to the present. "Enter." He said, uncrossing his legs.

The door creaked open, and Glynda strolled into the office. "Good evening, headmaster." She said in a crisp voice. "I have today's student reports." She set a clipboard of papers in front of Ozpin. "Are you feeling well?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Ozpin sighed. "I just wish I had more to do. I feel like I'm wasting time here."

"You could start interviewing candidates to replace Peter's position." Glynda suggested. "You can't keep teaching the class, with all your other duties." Glynda added. In the three months since Beacon had been destroyed, Ozpin had taken Kälte Schnee's offer and used the offered money to rebuild Beacon as fast as possible, and bigger than before. Construction was progressing quickly, but it would be at least another three or four months before Beacon would be usable by staff and students. And it would be another few months after that before the entire campus was complete.

At the temporary facilities that Ozpin was renting, he had remodeled the few buildings into basic dorms and teaching facilities. He made a deal with some surrounding restaurants so that the students could get free food, and Ozpin would pay them the cost in bulk, with a slight discount, at the end of the month, which both saved Ozpin money and made the restaurants more profits. The facilities weren't the best, but they were fairly comfortable and they worked for their purpose.

"Teaching the class doesn't take enough time to keep me occupied. I won't need to start looking for a replacement until the Academy is rebuilt." Ozpin replied with a shrug. With the loss of Professor Port, Ozpin had taken over teaching the lessons that Peter Port had once taught. Ozpin had been a professor before he became headmaster, so falling back into the flow of teaching had been a simple matter. "And the council meeting isn't until this weekend, anyways."

"Have you already drafted up the proposal?" Glynda asked. She was referring to the document that Ozpin was going to present to the Vytal Council, which outlined the use of huntsman and huntresses in wartime combat. The only wars that hunters have ever fought in were the large scale wars against Grimm in the far past, so utilizing them in war against other humans wasn't something that Vytal was prepared for. Hopefully Ozpin's proposal would be accepted, and he could begin recommending and sending over hunters to integrate into the Vytal military.

"Yes, of course. I finished it yesterday, using Tamamo's latest report. She says that the first group of students should start trickling out this week. I may take some of them with me to the Council meeting." Ozpin finished.

"Already?" Glynda said, surprised. "It's only been three months."

"If her reports are anything to go by, she's been running them hard, and a select group of them especially have risen to the challenge, with all their energy." Ozpin replied.

Glynda made an educated guess. "RWBY and JNPR. Or the former RWBY and JNPR, I should say."

"Mmhmm." Ozpin opened the appropriate files on his scroll. "Look at their progress reports. Every week they grow by leaps and bounds. In just months, they've basically made their progress at Beacon look like it was just an introductory lesson." He chuckled. "Maybe we should up the intensity of our lesson plans?" Ozpin joked.

Glynda clicked her tongue dismissively. "With all due respect, we teach more at Beacon Academy than just how to fight, headmaster. The lessons that Miss Mae has them going through don't involve a great many courses that we-"

"I know, I know. My point was that they are taking to this focused, specialized training like fish to water." Ozpin assured her. "Maybe we should give that option to senior students. They follow our curriculum until senior year, and then they are given the option to specialize. History, teaching, combat, research, whatever we have the facilities for."

"An intriguing proposition." Glynda admitted. "We would need to hire more teaching staff, at the very least."

"I get it, no need to beat around the bush. I'll look into hiring a replacement. In addition to changing our curriculum for seniors. At least it'll give me something to do." Ozpin said.

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Blake unsheathed her katana, holding it at an angle in front of her in her right hand. She kept the cleaver that also served as the sheath in a reverse grip in her left hand, held slightly behind her. Her feet slid back into a low fighting stance, distributing her wait between the balls of her feet. As Blake settled into her combat stance, she held her place as Cheshire bounced back and forth between his feet, metal claws held out low to either side. He occasionally clicked his claws together to produce a shrill ringing noise, which rang throughout the room and made it hard for Blake to hear clearly.

Blake was patient, and tolerated the piercing ringing echoing throughout the room, waiting for an opening. And then she saw Cheshire hop just a little higher than normal in his bouncing, just an accidental little bit of strength put into his muscles that kept him in the air just a hair longer than usual. This was exactly the kind of opening Blake was waiting for, and she threw Gambol Shroud's katana at Cheshire, the blade folding in as it spun at her instructor. Cheshire made to dodge, but that extra bit of distance to the ground made his leap backwards more a stumble than evasive maneuver.

To compensate for his poor retreat, Cheshire disappeared, leaving only the purple haze that was immediately dispelled by the spinning Gambol Shroud cutting through it. Blake had anticipated this, and leapt up into the air, twirling around with her feet towards the ceiling and head down, spinning Gambol Shroud with its ribbon around her as fast as she could in a defensive maneuver. The spinning blade and ribbon proved an effective defensive against Cheshire, who had reappeared a short distance to Blake's right, but had to immediately retreat again to avoid the spinning blade.

As Blake landed with Gambol Shroud in her hand once more, Cheshire took the momentary opening and leapt at Blake, swinging his right claw up and to the left towards Blake's hip. Blake brought her cleaver up against her side, the thick metal sheath easily stopping the triple bladed claws. Blake countered by bringing her katana down at Cheshire, not expecting it to hit but instead expecting to force a retreat or block. Cheshire chose to block, bring his left claw up with the blades pointing at Blake. The katana slid between two of the claw blades, and Cheshire took advantage of the trapped katana and twisted his arm to throw the blade out of Blake's grip.

Cheshire smiled when he disarmed Blake, knowing their fight was soon over. But to his surprise, Blake had a determined grin as well, and withdrew her now empty hand backwards, as if pulling something. As Blake's arm pulled back, Cheshire's eyes widened as he noticed the black ribbon that she had wrapped around her wrist as she landed earlier, tying her katana to her. Blake's sudden jerk of the ribbon whipped her katana right back around, and as she stepped back to increase the pull the katana flew past her left side, behind her. Rather than catching the katana, she spun and leapt forward at Cheshire, the motion putting more force on the ribbon, and the ribbon spun back around her right side towards Cheshire once again.

Blake cart wheeled over the fast moving ribbon, allowing it to spin past her and around Cheshire. Blake stood with a triumphant grin on her face as her katana wrapped itself around the stunned Cheshire, who was unable to disappear with the ribbon wrapped tightly around him. This was the first time Blake had ever beaten her instructor in their three months of training, and she couldn't keep the excited, predatory grin off her face.

Cheshire stared down at the ribbon wrapped around him for a moment before he burst out into laughter. "You did it!" He roared with laughter. "Magnificent. I knew you could do it." Cheshire congratulated.

"You knew I could do it?" Blake asked questioningly, her delighted grin still on her face.

"I wanted to graduate you last week." He explained. "You learned everything I could teach you, passed all my tests. All that's left is for you to take your experience and apply it. Which will only make you stronger. But Tamamo wanted to wait until you beat me in a fight."

"Why's that?"

"Something about not wanting you to think we were just ushering you out or something. I wasn't listening." He said, unwrapping himself from Gambol Shroud.

"I suppose that makes sense." Blake admitted.

"Does it? Sounds mad to me." Cheshire said while slipping his claws back into his pants pockets.

"I have to ask," Blake started, "Ever since my first lesson, I've been trying to figure out how you keep those long metal claws in your shorts. It doesn't make any sense; it doesn't look like they should fit. How do you keep them in there?" Blake asked.

"It doesn't make sense?" Cheshire asked, looking at his pockets. "It makes perfect sense to me. I put them in, and when I need them I take them out. If it doesn't make sense to you, maybe you're a little mad, too." He said with a smile, pulling his extravagantly large silk top hat out of his back pocket and plopping it on his head.

"Uh huh." Blake chuckled, staring at the ridiculous hat that couldn't possibly have fit into his pocket. "Maybe I am."

"You wouldn't be the first. Being mad has its comforts." He chuckled. "Anyways, I'm proud of you. Go see Tamamo. She'll have the plans ready to send you off."

"Do you know where I'm going?" Blake asked as she sheathed her weapon.

"No idea. I prefer not to get involved in the politics of things."

"Alright then. Thank you for all your help, Ches." Blake said sincerely. "I'll be sure to make you proud."

"Of that, I have no doubt." Cheshire replied. "Farewell, Lady Belladonna. I wish you the best in your endeavors." Cheshire Fry bowed at the waist, removing his hat and bringing it to his chest in a salute. He held the pose for only a second before disappearing in front of Blake for the last time, leaving Blake alone with the faint purple haze and his approval.

"Farewell, Cheshire Fry." Blake said before leaving behind the room that had been her life for the last three months.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weiss was studying in the fortress' three story library, making sure she had memorized a book of tactics and strategies that she had found extremely helpful during her first month of training. This was only review to her though, because even though she told herself that she was studying she knew in the back of her mind she had read this book so many times she had it memorized verbatim. Weiss couldn't help but try to figure out what had happened to her and her friends over the last few months.

Weiss told herself she had secluded herself from her friends by necessity, and that her studies had left her no time to socialize. She knew that was just an excuse, because she had consciously made a willing decision to spend most of her time studying alone. The extent of her social life at the fortress was limited to the dinners they had shared, but even those had stopped after the first month, with everyone focusing on their own training.

Blake had spent a majority of her time training in either the forest surrounding the fortress, or training in one of the combat rooms. Even Velvet, who shared a room with Blake, barely saw the cat faunus anymore. Weiss had tried to put more effort into maintaining contact with Blake than with her other friends, especially after Velvet had confided in Weiss that she suspected Blake was having nightmares every night. Weiss' efforts were in vain, as Blake brushed off Weiss' concern, saying they were just some bad dreams once in a while. On top of that, Weiss had taken Blake at her word and not pursued the matter further. Velvet had promised to keep an eye on Blake for Weiss, but Velvet was so preoccupied with trying to care for Blake that she soon stopped telling Weiss how Blake was holding up.

Nora was doing no better; her cheerful attitude that had been her default setting had long since disappeared into her friends' memories, leaving only a quiet, focused, and determined Nora behind. Weiss had noticed that when Nora was actually standing still, she spent her time sewing and stitching together a small, stuffed plushie the size of her hand that looked like Ren. Everyone always knew where Nora could be found, but Nora was never in any mood to engage in socializing. Nora was nearly constantly training, constantly getting stronger and more powerful. Weiss didn't think that Nora had spoken more than a few sentences to anyone besides Kani in the three months she had been here.

At their initiation Nora had already contained enough raw power to defeat the great warrior Kani, and under her tutelage Nora's technique and skill and skyrocketed. Nora was now a huntress of such ability that she could single handedly take down any other group of students who would risk sparing with Nora. After Nora defeated six other students at once on her own, word had spread and none of the other students would spar with her, leaving Nora to spend hours, even days at a time in the forest searching for the most powerful Grimm she could find. Nora had trouble finding any Grimm the last month though, as she seemed to have hunted the forest clean.

Jaune and Pyrrha had also put together a concentrated effort to help Nora, but she had turned them down flat, not even bothering with pretenses and excuses. She secluded herself away from her former teammates, most likely because it hurt too much to see them together while she didn't have Ren. This rejection stung the couple deeply, and they had in turn retreated from Nora, losing contact with her. Weiss maintained regular contact with Jaune and Pyrrha, mostly because they were also learning strategy from Denarii in addition to their lessons aura control and use from Vimentis. Weiss often practiced and ran exercises with them in the map room, having mock battles with each of them as commanders of their respective simulated armies. Even this though wasn't very much interaction, with each of them more interested in winning than socializing. Most of their conversations were suggestions, critiques, and discussions regarding tactics and strategy, but at least it was some form of conversation.

Weiss gave up on pretending to study and review and closed her book, pinching the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes. She heard footsteps approaching the table she was sitting at. "Headache?" a deep voice asked.

Weiss looked up to see Denarii walking towards her, cup of coffee in hand. He held the coffee out to Weiss. "No, just thinking about things." Weiss answered, gratefully accepting the cup of coffee. "The last few months have been full of changes. It's been a lot to take in." She sipped her hot drink.

"I can imagine. You're so young for what you're going through. You and your friends are still basically children." Denarii said with a chuckle, sitting down across from Weiss.

"We're not that young, are we?" Weiss asked. "I'm almost twenty."

"Twenty years old, and soon to be in control of an army. Most newly recruited soldiers are older than you, Miss Schnee." Denarii said meaningfully. "You will have more challenges than any other commander, because of your age. You are part of a new generation and new breed of hunter, one trained for a war against humans rather than monsters."

"A type of hunter that shouldn't need to exist." Weiss pointed out.

"It is… unfortunate." Denarii admitted. "Which is why I am here to give you your final lesson."

Weiss straightened up. "My final lesson?"

"Yes. You are ready to graduate our training." Denarii answered. "And that is the reason for this final lesson. Question, Miss Schnee: What separates us from the Grimm?"

"We have souls, and they do not." Weiss answered, finding the answer obvious.

"An easy enough question. We have souls, and the monsters do not. So the real question now is this: What separates you from Vacuoan soldiers?" Denarii asked, crossing his fingers.

Weiss opened her mouth to answer, but closed it again, thinking. "As sentient beings with souls, I suppose the answer would be 'nothing.' But we are separated by what we are fighting for."

"Exactly. You and your enemies are both people. You both have family, friends, favorite foods, hobbies." Denarii explained. "And your own soldiers as well. Can you kill someone, knowing that? Can you order men into battle, knowing that hundreds, thousands could die? Each soldier a person with their own life, their own story to be told? The pieces on your chessboard now aren't made of wood anymore."

Weiss stayed quiet, contemplating her instructor's words. Could she kill? Yes, she had killed soldiers while defending Beacon, but that was a fight for her life, self defense. And her own soldiers? As Denarii said, they weren't pieces on a chessboard, or simulated dots on an electronic map. Each chess piece and dot was now a life she would hold in her hands. But Weiss focused on why she came here in the first place. Beacon. Lie Ren. Yang Xiao Long. And most of all, Ruby Rose. "Yes." Weiss said, her voice cool as ice, as hard as stone. "I think I very well could."

"Good. You will need that resolve in the times to come. Your first battle will be a learning experience, something I cannot teach you. The final touch on your training." Denarii added, standing up. "But this is something you must consider on your own time. For now, you need to go see Tamamo. You are done here, Miss Schnee. You will be shipping out today. It was a pleasure training you." Denarii brought a fist up to his heart in salute. "May all your battles end in victory."

Weiss stood and returned the salute. "Thank you, Instructor."

"Just Denarii, now." Weiss' former instructor said with a small smile. "Now get moving. Don't wanna be late."

"Yes, sir."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blake was climbing the stairs to Tamamo's office, anxious to get out of the fortress and into the fight. As she neared the top Blake heard footsteps approaching from the left end of the hallway, and turned to see Nora determinedly making her way towards Blake from the other end of the hall. "Afternoon, Nora." Blake greeted.

Nora nodded in greeting, her facial expression unchanging. Blake wasn't offended at the lack of verbal response, she knew that Nora wasn't one for words in the last few months. They both continued side by side to as they walked, and Blake began to suspect that Nora was also going to Tamamo's office. "Tamamo's office?" she asked. Nora nodded again in confirmation.

They continued in silence, reaching Tamamo's office after a short walked. Blake knocked on the door as she heard a voice behind her. "Hello, Blake. Nora." They both turned to see Weiss ascending yet another stairway from another direction. "I take it you're both seeing Tamamo too." Weiss said, more statement than question.

The door opened before they could respond, and a smiling Tamamo opened the door. "Greetings everyone. Strange that you all arrived at once, but convenient. Come in." She stepped back into her office and sat down at her desk as the three girls followed her sat stood in a line in front of her desk, Weiss in the center with Blake to the right and Nora to the left. Nora was gently stroking her plushie of Ren with her thumb, which she had clipped to her side with a metal clip. "So you beat Ches in a fight, huh?" Tamamo asked, looking at Blake.

"I did." Blake answered with a small grin.

"And I suppose each of you have received your final lessons from Kani and Dani as well?" Weiss and Nora nodded. "I guess there's no reason for me to keep you here then." Tamamo pulled open a desk drawer and pulled out her scroll. "I'll let Ozzy know you're on your way once we're done here, then." She said. "Do any of you have anything you need to pack?" All three girls shook their heads 'no.' "I see. I'll let the caretakers know you'll be leaving soon." She typed some things into her scroll.

"As soon as possible." Nora added.

Tamamo looked up at Nora, then down at Nora's plushie. "As soon as possible." She agreed. She typed a few things into her scroll before closing it. "The caretakers will be waiting for you at the landing pads. I wish you wouldn't go joining this war, you know."

"We have to." Weiss said.

"I suppose you must see it that way." Tamamo said. "As much as I hate to see you go, you've made your decisions. Who am I to try to convince you otherwise." She gave a small wave goodbye as she escorted the trio to the door. "I'm glad you were such good students. Give Ozzy and Glynda my regards." After they said their quick goodbyes, Tamamo closed the door behind them.

"I guess we're the only three leaving." Weiss said.

"Yeah." Blake agreed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Blake!" A voice called from behind them as they exited the fortress doors. Weiss, Blake, and Nora turned around to find Velvet jogging towards them. "Where are you going?" She slowed to a stop in front of them, breathing a little harder than normal.

"We finished our training." Blake explained. "We're getting sent back to Professor Ozpin for deployment."

Velvet's eyes watered up slightly. "You're leaving?"

Blake stepped forward as Weiss checked the time and Nora watched emotionlessly. "Yes. I'm sure you'll be done soon too, and we'll all meet up again." Blake pulled Velvet into her shoulder as she hugged her. "I'm sorry I've been such a bad roommate these past few months."

Velvet just sniffed into Blake's shoulder as a few tears fell, leaving a faint dampness on Blake's shirt. "I'll walk with you." She said. Blake nodded and the four girls continued on their way to the landing pad. Weiss led the way, with Nora a few steps behind her and Blake and Velvet at the rear, holding hands. There was no small talk or conversation as they walked, as Velvet was content to just be with Blake.

They arrived at the landing pad in short order, where an airship was already prepped and ready to go, and the pilot waiting patiently in the cockpit while some other caretakers refueled and did a final inspection of the ship. One caretaker saw them and hurried over, giving a quick bow as he came to a stop. "We're ready when you are, ma'am. Just the four of you?"

"Three of them." Velvet corrected. "I'm just here to say goodbye."

"Yes ma'am. We'll get everyone off the pad so we're ready to leave as soon as you wish." He jogged back to the others, shouting orders.

Nora said nothing, just nodded once to Velvet before walking over to the airship and hopping in and seating herself. Weiss gave Velvet a hug as she said her goodbye and wished Velvet luck, then walked over to the airship to give Blake and Velvet some space.

"Come here." Blake said soothingly, pulling Velvet into another embrace, Velvet's head resting on Blake's chest as Velvet's ears tickled Blake's cheek. "You'll be fine, okay? You're strong."

"Not as strong as you." Velvet responded, clinging onto Blake.

"Everyone is strong in their own way." Blake said, stroking Velvet's hair.

"That's really not the point here." Velvet laughed tearfully. "But you should go, before we get caught up in a long goodbye." Velvet wiped her eyes with the back of her wrists. "Bye, Blake. See you soon." Velvet stood on the tips of her toes and kissed Blake on the cheek.

Blake gave Velvet a peck on the cheek in return. "Bye, Velvet. I'm sure we'll see each other again soon. Tell the others we said goodbye too." Velvet stepped back with a nod and clasped her hands in front of her as Blake waved goodbye and stepped up onto the airship. "I'm ready." She yelled to the cockpit.

"Aye aye." The pilot called back. He began flipping switches and pressing buttons, and the engine roared to life in response. "We have takeoff." The pilot announced over the speakers as the ship ascended into the air. There was a brief pause in movement before the engine's rear jets kicked to life, propelling the airship forward towards the horizon.

Velvet was standing on the ground by the landing pad, watching the ship shrink in the distance. "Bye, Blake. I love you."


	12. The Vytal Council

Jaune and Pyrrha were sitting at opposite ends of the small, round table they had procured months ago, running through a smaller and portable version of the tactical simulator from the map room on their scrolls. It wasn't as good as the software in the map room, but when that room wasn't available their scrolls served as acceptable alternative. Jaune was currently winning their match; his forces had trapped Pyrrha's in a valley and were quickly wiping them out.

"You win again." Pyrrha said with a chuckle. Jaune was clearly the better strategist between the two of them, coming out victorious in a large majority of their matches. Jaune was also more powerful in his sheer quantity of aura, while Pyrrha was superior in her ability to control and manipulate aura as was well as personal combat skills. Together, they made a powerful team. "Rematch?"

"How about some lunch first?" Jaune looked at the time. "Or an early dinner." He amended.

"Sure. Do we have anything in our fridge?" Pyrrha asked as she slid her simple wooden chair back. She stood and walked over to their refrigerator, brushing some stray strands of hair behind her ear as she opened their refrigerator door. Jaune just shrugged silently as he walked up behind his lover. "I guess not." Pyrrha said straightening her back.

Jaune placed an arm around Pyrrha's waist. "We can go to the kitchen a little early, get things ready for Blake." He suggested.

"That sounds wonderful." Pyrrha replied, giving Jaune a peck on the cheek before walking to the closet to grab a jacket. As she pulled an orange sweater over her white tank top, there was a knock at their door. Pyrrha waved Jaune away, letting him sit back down as she answered. She opened the door to find a teary eyed Velvet standing there. "Velvet? Are you okay?" Pyrrha asked with concern, immediately bringing both hands up to Velvet's shoulders and gently easing her into the room.

Jaune heard Pyrrha's question and jumped up himself, concerned with the well being of his friend. "Velvet?" He asked,

Velvet sniffed, sad and teary but not quite crying. "Th-they left. Blake and Weiss and Nora. They wanted me to tell you 'goodbye' for them." Velvet decided to generalize Blake's goodbye for everyone, to at least attempt to mend the gap between Nora and the couple. "They said they graduated training and flew out today. I think they're deploying out to the war." Velvet told them.

"What?" Jaune asked disbelievingly. "They left already? Like, today?"

Velvet nodded. "Yeah. I just watched the airship take off."

"Why didn't they come see us in person?" Pyrrha asked, hurt.

"I think they left as soon as Tamamo spoke to them." Velvet explained. "Maybe they didn't have time."

"I guess." Jaune conceded. "That still sucks though."

"I hope we get out of here soon too." Pyrrha lamented.

"Yeah. I just wanted to let you guys know. I think I'm gonna go train some more now." Velvet said.

"We were just about to go make some food; do you want to join us?" Jaune asked.

Velvet paused. "Sorry, but I think I'm going to pass. I just want to train and work up a sweat, tire myself out a bit." Velvet apologized again and showed herself out, closing the door behind her.

Jaune and Pyrrha stood in silence. "It feels like our group of friends gets smaller every month." Pyrrha whispered.

Jaune wrapped his arms around Pyrrha, embracing her from behind. "... Yeah."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weiss looked out of the airship window, down at the series of office buildings that Professor Ozpin had rented down below. "I suppose it would've been too much to expect Beacon to have been rebuilt in three months." She said with a tinge of disappointment in her voice.

"This place doesn't look quite as bad as I had imagined." Blake chuckled. Nora was just staring below silently.

"We're going in for a landing on the rooftop now." The pilot's voice reported over the speakers. The trio of girls stood up, walking towards the exit door as the airship as they waited for it to land. They swayed slightly as the airship's suspension took the brunt of the force of the landing. "And we've touched down. Hope you enjoyed the ride."

"Thanks for flying us!" Blake called into the cockpit as they hopped out the door.

"My pleasure ma'am." The pilot gave them a thumbs up before firing up the engines and lifting off to return to the fortress. Nora gave a lazy wave while making her way silently to the rooftop access door. Blake and Weiss followed behind Nora as she pulled open the door and strode down the stairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ozpin was reviewing his proposal in his office, analyzing his ideas and the plans in it. "This isn't going to work." He removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt his plan was sound if not necessarily perfect, but the problem was getting the Vytal Council to accept it. The Vytal council wasn't known for its tolerance. The amount of time it took for them to rescind their anti-faunus laws were a prime example of that. Getting them to accept Hunters in their military was going to take more than a small amount of effort. People were fine with hunters going off to fight monsters to protect the people, but they did not want to be reminded that hunters were so much more powerful than they were.

While trying to come up with a solution to his proposal problem, an incoming call alert blinked on his scroll. He tapped the screen with a sigh. "Yes, Glynda?"

"Headmaster, the huntresses from Tamamo have arrived." He heard her voice report.

Ozpin started in surprise. "Already? I was expecting them later this week at the earliest." He looked down at his proposal, and he stroked his chin as an idea popped into his head. "Send them in, please."

"Yes, Headmaster." Glynda hung up and the call ended.

Soon after there was a knock on the door. "Enter." Ozpin said from behind his desk. The door opened and Ozpin was greeted by the appearance of three girls. Weiss Schnee led the way, with Blake Belladonna and then Nora Valkyrie following behind. "Greetings, young ladies." He should've known that they would graduate first. Though he was surprised that Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos were not with them.

"Hello, Professor." The three girls greeted simultaneously. They lined up in front of Ozpin's desk, sliding their feet shoulder width apart and placing their hands behind their back in an 'at ease' position. Something they must have learned from Tamamo at the fortress, as he never taught his students to behave like that.

"I see Tamamo's training has ingrained itself into you." Ozpin commenting on their seemingly choreographed movements into their stances.

"It's been a tough and educational few months." Blake responded.

"Understandable. Tamamo isn't known for easy training." Ozpin said sympathetically. "I expect you're all quite powerful now." The girls shrugged. They had never seen Professor Ozpin fight, so they were unsure about what standards he would judge them by.

"If I may interrupt, Professor, I have a question." Weiss asked. Ozpin nodded. "You hadn't contacted Tamamo with any updates for me about Ruby, and I know you think she's…gone… but were any more searches orchestrated? Any more information?"

Ozpin saw both Blake and Nora shift slightly on either side of Weiss, looking away from her ever so slightly. Strange. "I'm sorry, but no new developments have arisen. Qrow spent a week searching, and word was spread to the nearby towns and cities, but there has been no sign of her. As I said, there's been no evidence to suggest Miss Rose survived the beowolf attack. You have my sympathies." Ozpin finished.

"I understand." Weiss said stoically. Blake reached over to gently rub Weiss' lower back to comfort her.

Nora changed the subject. "So why are we here, and not with the military? We can't be going back to regular classes."

"No, you aren't." Ozpin answered. "But unfortunately, integrating hunters into the Vytal military has been… difficult. The council is resisting."

"What? Why?" Nora exclaimed angrily. "Our military doesn't have the numbers to defeat Vacuo. They need us."

"I realize that, and so do many other sensible people. But the council is full of stubborn old politicians who think that admitting their soldiers can't win the war is admitting defeat." Ozpin told the girls. "Even though we're losing a little more ground every day. The war is not going well."

"Idiots." Nora spat the words viciously. Ozpin watched her curiously, noting the drastic change in behavior from what he remembered.

"I have a meeting with the council in just a few days. I'm presenting a proposal that outlines plans for integrating hunters like you into the military. How would you three like to accompany me?" Ozpin offered.

"Would we help?" Weiss asked.

"It wouldn't hurt. And your presence could influence their decision; you may even be able to make your own points known." Ozpin answered.

"All right. I can agree to that." Weiss said with a nod. The other two girls nodded in agreement.

"Excellent. We have three days until then. Why don't you take a look at the proposal," he held up a folder full of papers, "so you're familiar with it. And if you don't mind, I think it would be beneficial to the students if you were to assist with a lesson here and there. Your experience could be a valuable lesson to them."

The girls didn't look eager to speak to their former classmates in any capacity, but agreed nonetheless. Ozpin thanked them, giving them copies of the proposal. "Oh, I've set aside the top floor of the dormitory for use of the hunters Tamamo is sending back. It's empty of Beacon students, so you have free reign there." The girls thanked him, leaving the office behind.

Glynda entered the room after they left. "They're so different." She said. "They definitely aren't children anymore."

"They are so young, for what they must do." Ozpin agreed. "And I fear that this is only the start of the changes they will go through."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weiss had been busy the past three says. She had memorized Ozpin's proposal, and had even gone over it with him to discuss and change portions where she felt a different approach would be more effective. Her changes included tactical deployments, squad compositions, specializations, and other things along those lines. She also fleshed out parts that she felt should be outlined more for someone who may not be overly familiar with the abilities of a hunter. She also played chess with Ozpin, who soon gave up challenging Weiss regularly because she came out victorious in every match.

Blake and Nora had also looked over the proposal, but felt they had nothing to contribute, so they assisted other professors with the occasional lesson, mostly combat classes. What came as a surprise to them was that from their own point of view they had not progressed much in their time at the fortress, only improving a little here and there. But the reality they discovered while working with the teachers and students was that they had become far more powerful than they had originally believed. Even most of the teachers at Beacon only lasted a few seconds in a fight with the girls, and the ones who lasted more than a few seconds couldn't defeat the girls anyways.

Soon enough the three days had passed by, and the three girls were in a black luxury car with Ozpin, being driven to the meeting. Glynda had stayed behind to oversee the facilities. "I want to prepare you ahead of time- there is a very good chance the council members will be unreceptive, and far more rude than you might believe."

"Why's that?" Blake asked, looking up from her book, her ears twitching.

"They don't like to be reminded of their frailty." Ozpin answered. "Not to mention many of them may still hold notions that 'men are supposed to be stronger than women.' I expect that the women in the council will be far more receptive with you there, which will at least deflect some of their focus off of us."

"Fools." Nora commented while looking out the window, holding her Ren plushie in her lap.

"Fools indeed." Ozpin agreed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour's drive later, the four hunters exited the car in front of the white building that served as the Council Hall. The steep stairs in the front were designed to inspire awe in those who looked upon them and climbed them, but the four hunters didn't seem to notice. The domed ceiling of the central body of the building was made of polished steel and stained glass, a myriad of colors broken into shards, mixed together, and reassembled to create the multicolored dome. The white columns that supported the front and inside of the building were polished to a shine, the marble having been smoothed down by diligent workers. Again, the hunters were not impressed and barely noticed the extravagance as they opened the oversized double doors and entered.

They checked in with the clerk, who gave a start of surprise when Ozpin told her that the three huntresses were his assistants. Blinking in disbelief, and clearly getting the wrong impression about their relationship, she had Ozpin sign in before staring once more. And as with the architecture, the four of them did not notice nor bother to correct the woman's incorrect ideas about Ozpin and the three girls. They continued past the gaping woman and made their way down the broad, brightly lit hallway. Their shoes generated loud echoes with each step, the sound bouncing off the tile floor and the wood paneling on the walls.

Ozpin checked his watch. "Right on time. Let's go on in." He pulled open an ornate wooden door and walked through, the girls following behind him. They entered a large, round room with a high ceiling, right under the stained glass dome they could see from the outside. The different colors of light were too high and didn't reach the ground, leaving a nice decoration on the ceiling without bathing the ground in a disco ball of multicolored light. Other than the ceiling, there were no windows, light being provided by bright lights on wall sconces. There was a long 'C' shaped table that encircled the room, with a projector screen where the gap is, and a podium for speaking in front of that for presentations. A guard stood on either side the door in a military uniform, and there were at least three or four dozen council members sitting in cushioned seats at the large table.

"You're late, Ozpin." A gruff old councilman said.

"I am actually ten minutes early." Ozpin corrected. "It's not my fault if you got here early and decided to wait."

The council huffed and grumbled to himself. "Who're the children?" He eyed Weiss, Blake, and Nora. His eyes lingered on Blake, his gaze moving up to the ears on her head before he grunted dismissively.

"Huntresses. They are assisting me."

"I guess we know where he stands on faunus relations." Blake whispered into Weiss' ear. Weiss just gave a small giggle as an answer. The councilman glared at them, clearly aware they said something about him but unable to hear what they said.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Blake." A man said from behind them. Blake turned around and to see a tall, masked man behind her. His short, light brown hair had bright red steaks dyed into it, with dark brown, almost black horns protruding from it. His white and red mask hid his eyes, and his black clothes had white and red highlights that accented the edges of each article of clothing. He was carrying a sheathed sword at his side, which the security guards in the room were eying warily.

Blake's eyes widened in surprise. "Adam? How did you get in here?"

"I walked in. I was invited." He deadpanned. "Humans weren't the only ones who suffered in Vacuo's attack."

In answer to her companions' puzzled expressions, Blake informed them of who this man was. "His name is Adam, someone I once knew. He's a lieutenant in the White Fang."

"Adam from the White Fang, huh?" Weiss asked, recalling a story Blake had told her about the time she and Adam had robbed a Schnee company train.

"Yes. And you are?" He held out his hand to shake Weiss'.

"Weiss Schnee. Friend of Blake's." Weiss answered, shaking Adam's hand.

Adam's hand froze mid shake. "…Schnee?" He queried.

"Yes." Weiss answered determinedly.

Adam looked at Blake. "You make strange friends now, Blake. I never expected you to befriend a Schnee."

"She's not like them." Blake said fiercely, defending her friend.

Adam held up a hand to placate Blake. "I didn't say she was. You're not the only one who has changed." Blake's only response was a tilt of the head. "After the unfortunate business with that Torchwick fellow a couple years back we've changed our methods again. The White Fang is no longer as… extreme… as we once were. We are actively and aggressively defending rights of the faunus and pushing for reform. Peacefully." He explained.

Blake blinked in silence, surprised that Adam had gone along with such a plan. "You seem awfully okay with that, considering how you were before."

"Like I said. That business with Torchwick really opened our eyes." He shrugged.

"Miss Belladonna, the meeting is about to start." Ozpin whispered, gesturing to some seats towards the podium.

"'Miss Belladonna.'" Adam chuckled. Blake rolled her eyes at him and followed Ozpin and her friends to the front, while Adam sat a few seats away from them, his two bodyguards flanking him on either side.

Weiss looked around the room at each council member, putting her training with Tamamo to the test and reading every person. There wasn't much helpful information she could gather from just seeing them from a distance, so Weiss waited patiently to listen to them talk before she made any judgment calls.

The old councilman that confronted them when they entered stood up, his suit stretching over his bulging stomach. "I call the council to order. As Chairman of the Council, I acknowledge that all parties are present and the meeting may begin. Professor Ozpin of Beacon Academy will be presenting a proposal to us for our consideration about the integration of hunters into the Vytal military." Weiss could already hear the distaste in his voice. "You may begin, Professor."

"Thank you, Councilor." Ozpin stood. "In front of each of you is a packet containing proposals and ideas proposed by myself, edited and refined alongside Glynda Goodwitch and Weiss Schnee." Ozpin held a hand out towards Weiss, who bowed her head. "Miss Schnee has received extensive training in both military tactics as well as the training of a huntress, as has provided valuable insight into the implementation of hunters in human warfare."

As Ozpin continued with his presentation, Blake could hear some council members whispering to each other about Weiss, wondering if she was the 'Schnee heiress.' Blake in turn whispered what she heard to Weiss, knowing that Weiss could possibly use any information she got her hands on to manipulate the council if needed. Blake could also hear discussions about Ozpin and his proposal, which she also passed on to Weiss, who was writing down counter arguments for what Blake was hearing. This would make the discussions afterwards go more smoothly, since they wouldn't need to come up with answers to questions on the fly. Nora's contribution was glaring at the council.

Just over twenty minutes later, Ozpin finished his proposal. "And now, and questions, members of the council?" Before he could point to one of the many raised hands, Weiss tugged on the bottom of his coat. He bent over and she handed him her notepad. He scanned it briefly, before letting a smile creep onto his face. He straightened up again. "If you have any directions, you may direct them to Miss Schnee here, who will answer any and all questions." He sat back down in his chair, crossing his legs.

Weiss stood up to stunned silence. She pointed to an older woman to her front and left. "Yes, ma'am?"

"How do you believe bringing in hunters such as yourselves would affect soldier morale? I support this integration myself, but if the soldiers begin to feel like they are being treated as cannon fodder…" She let the end of her question drift off.

Weiss had gathered from Blake's information that this councilwoman was very practical and reasonable, and decided a well reasoned and rational argument would work best with her. "Hunters are powerful, yes, but not immortal. Both we here and our soldiers know we cannot win this war on their own, and hunters could not win this war on their own. It is our belief that this sort of bonding, the knowledge that one helps out the other, will overcome any negative feelings a soldier may have. We believe a soldier's practicality will lead them to treat a hunter the same way they would treat a comrade that is better at something than they are. One person is a better shot, another is better at hand to hand combat, things like that. Hunters are not proficient at everything, and will have a role to play, just as a soldier would." Weiss finished, taking a breath.

"A good point. I have no objections if you believe that is the case as well, Professor?" she looked at Ozpin, who nodded. "I have no more questions. Thank you." She sat back in her seat. A few other council members were nodding their heads appreciatively alongside her, which boded well for Weiss.

And so the questioning continued, with Weiss quickly and efficiently answering questions and shooting down counter arguments, leaving no doubt in most of the the council's mind that there was no reason to oppose this proposal. The Chairman however, along with a few select others, remained adamantly opposed to the proposal, despite their arguments being picked apart and destroyed by both Weiss and the other members of the council.

"Why these children, then?" The chairman shouted. "Surely some more experience hunters with experience as soldiers should do plenty better."

"Those 'more experienced' hunters are busy fighting Grimm. Unless you believe that we should leave the world undefended against soulless monsters?" Weiss asked. She had determined early on that rational arguments would not work with a man who was determined to be right, no matter what evidence was presented against him, so she used leading questions to force him into answering a certain way, so he was unable to answer otherwise without seeming a terrible man.

"N-no, I'm not saying such a thing. But surely-" he stuttered.

"In addition!" Weiss interrupted. "We are different than the standard hunters. We are a new breed of huntress, trained in warfare. We are trained warriors whose training involved learning the best way to kill, not monsters, but soldiers. _People._ " Weiss emphasized. "You could not ask for better hunters to fight alongside the military." Weiss had emphasized that they were trained to kill people rather than monsters to bring a little bit of intimidation to her side.

The chairman was left a stuttering stammering wreck, clearly having nothing left to say that wouldn't come across as selfish and infantile. "But you're children!" He pointed at Nora. "One of you girls even has a stupid doll!"

Weiss quickly turned to grab Nora, but was too late. Nora had already vaulted over the table, and was walking towards the chairman menacingly. "Guards!" the chair tried to back up, but stumbled out of his chair.

"Try not to kill him." Blake yelled to Nora, smiling.

One of the guards clearly disliked and disagreed with the chairman and stood his ground at the door, pretending he didn't hear the call for help. The other guard ran forward and leaped over the table to intercept Nora, either too foolish or too oblivious to realize he was making a terrible mistake. He reached the huntress and held and arm out in front of him, ordering Nora to halt. The angry redhead just grabbed him by the wrist and with a single arm threw him over a dozen feet to her right, where he smashed into one of the many legs of the table, unconscious.

The fat chairman had finally gotten to his feet, just in time to look up at Nora as she leapt over the table at him, arm and fist cocked behind her head. He let out the beginning of a high pitched scream, the rest of it cut off as Nora fist smashed into his face. The blow was devastating, the sound of the impact causing some other panicking council members to cringe as if the blow had been directed at them. While the sound of the impact disturbed the other council members, the actual impact destroyed the chairman's jaw, not just dislocating it, but shattering it and leaving him a bloody, screaming mess on the ground, unable to properly call for help.

"You might wanna get that looked at." Nora said. "I hear _children_ sometimes don't know their own strength. You know how they can be sensitive about their _dolls._ " Nora delivered one swift kick to the chairman's ribs, fracturing them. She then hopped back over the table to the unconscious soldier, pressing her hand to his forehead. She activated her substantial aura, allowing some of it to flow into the soldier. The soldier woke up with a start. "Are you okay?" Nora asked. The soldier watched Nora fearfully before nodding his head. "That's good." Nora stood and hopped back into her seat, crossing her arms and stroking her small Ren plushie with her thumb.

"You could have at least waited until after the meeting." Weiss said. Blake was holding a hand in front of her mouth to hide her delighted grin, while a few seats down Adam was roaring with laughter, not bothering to attempt conceal it in the least. Weiss noted that even a few other council members were trying to hide small grins. Clearly the chairman was disliked.

Ozpin stood up and cleared his throat. "I'll suppose I'll call an ambulance once the meeting is adjourned. Are there any more questions?" He asked the room of faces covered in mixed emotion. He could see indifference, fear, horror, joy, delight, a whole mixed bag of emotions.

One of the grinning council members got to his feet, quickly wiping the grin off his face. He cleared his throat. "As the chairman in indisposed, I shall call for the final vote. All in favor of the hunter integration proposal please raise your right hand." He looked around the room to see that every council member had raised their hand, whether out of actual support or out of fear of Nora. "As Vice Chairman and currently acting Chairman, I am proud to announce that the integration of hunters into the Vytal military has been approved." He sat back down, smiling once more, clearly in support of Ozpin and his proposal. With the final announcement made, the council members began cleaning up and leaving the room, engaged in conversations with each other.

"Excellent." Ozpin said as he dialed medical services. He turned to Weiss. "You handled yourself splendidly."

"Thank you, sir." Weiss bowed her head.

"Which is why I'm proud to make you lead of this project." He said, setting the proposal documents in her hand. Weiss looked up at him, stunned. "You handled yourself admirably, even when I threw you in without warning. I'm getting old. Much, much older than I look. As much as I wish I could, I can't lead a war the same way you could. I shall continue teaching, and drawing up new plans to have new prospects sent to Tamamo and you as soon as possible. But you, Miss Schnee, will be a leader in the war effort."

"I… "Weiss started, clearly surprised by this decision. "Thank you, sir." Weiss settled on.

"I couldn't agree more, Professor." A voice said from behind Weiss. Weiss turned to see the Vice Chairman. "It's good to see you again." His graying hair reminded Weiss of a haystack, with strands and chunks sticking out all over the place. Despite that, his black suit was immaculately clean, which confused Weiss. His cane looked dirty, old, and worn; as if he had just picked up a thick branch from the forest somewhere.

"Councilor Crane." Ozpin shook his hand. "Or is it Chairman Crane, now?" Ozpin said, nodding to the crying chairman being wheeled away on a gurney.

Councilor Crane laughed. "I expect I will be Chairman very soon, after his behavior today. I must insist he take extended leave for… recovery purposes."

Ozpin laughed along with Councilor Crane. "Pardon me, Councilor. Miss Schnee, this is Councilor Crane, Vice Chairman of the Vytal council, former huntsman, and close friend of mine."

"Pleasure to meet you, Councilor." Weiss greeted, shaking his hand. "You are a hunter?"

"Was a hunter." Crane corrected. He lifted up his left pant leg slightly, revealing a prosthetic leg. He tapped his cane on his upper thigh, just below his hip, to show how much of the leg was missing. "Had a bit of an accident when I was younger. Can't fight quite as well anymore."

"An accident?" Blake asked, walking up beside Weiss. "Blake Belladonna." She introduced herself.

Crane shook Blake's hand. "Yes. I didn't mean to let a Nevermore take it from me, but we had a disagreement on that matter." He chuckled.

"How rude of it." Blake commented.

"I know, right?" He said with a grin. "Anyways, I came over to tell you that you will have my full support." His grin disappeared. "We are trying to keep it hidden from the public, but we are definitely losing this war, and badly. I know that skilled hunters are exactly what we need to turn it around. Our intelligence shows that Vacuo's army has a huge numbers advantage on us, but they have almost no hunters. I guess that they didn't plan on most of them deserting when they found out they attacked nearly all the schools where hunters are trained."

"A foolish mistake, on their part." Ozpin commented.

Crane nodded and continued, looking at Weiss. "If you are to take Ozpin's place, then I shall send the information to you. I believe you will be meeting with some of the military commanders to begin integration, giving them the information and orders they will need. They will resist, just like this council, unfortunately. But," he started, "there is a difference. The second you prove yourself, there will be no walls, they will accept you without question, and you will be one of them. I expect to see you in command soon, huntress. Now, I need to go deal with some paperwork regarding a certain someone's injury." He sighed. "Oh well. Farewell, Ozpin. Pleasure meeting you girls." He waved before walking off, slightly favoring one leg, while his cane tapped on the floor. Ozpin followed alongside him, catching up with his old friend.

"Now, I like how you work." They heard Adam say to Nora, who was still sitting patiently, waiting for Weiss and Blake.

"Thanks." Nora said without looking up from her Ren plushie.

Sensing Nora wasn't one for conversation, Adam walked over to Weiss and Blake. 'This meeting was definitely more interesting than I thought it was going to be."

"So, why are you here again?" Blake asked.

"So distrustful." He said. "I was asked to represent faunus interests by Councilor Crane. He contacted the different faunus communities and the White Fang, and I was selected for my… tenaciousness."

"That's one way to put it." Blake said while rolling her eyes at him.

"At the very least, I'm glad you aren't so angry at me anymore." Adam admitted.

"It was a long time ago." Blake said.

"And you, Miss Schnee." Adam said, turning to Weiss. "You certainly don't look like a faunus-hating business executive."

"He's just trying to get a rise out of you." Blake interjected before could take the bait.

"You seem to be mistaking me for my father." Weiss countered. "But you'd still be wrong, because he hates everyone, not just faunus."

Adam stared at Weiss through his mask a moment before chuckling. "I see. You're not bad yourself. Well, Miss Schnee, I am proud to tell you that as a representative of the faunus, you have our full military support. What military we have, anyways." He finished.

"Don't be so dramatic." Blake sighed. Adam only chuckled before waving bye to them and turning away, gesturing to his two guards to follow him out of the room.

"Are we ready to go yet?" Nora asked from her chair.

"Yeah. Let's get back to the school so we can prep for war." Weiss said.

"Did we really just join a war? Just like that?" Blake asked.

"I guess we did." Weiss said. "Why?"

"I don't know. I just expected it to be… different, I guess." Blake tilted her head as she thought. "More climactic. We're entering a war, you know? I thought there would be an announcement, crowds, music. Like in books and movies. But it really was such a quiet thing, wasn't it? We're going to join a fight where thousands will die, and no one seems to have noticed."

"I guess they don't think it will affect them." Nora suggested quietly, looking down at her Ren plushie once again.

"I could only wish it didn't affect us." Weiss said sadly.


	13. The Lesser of Two Evils

Weiss could hear a quiet shuffling in the darkness of the room she was sleeping in. Slowly opening one eye, even the dim light reflecting off the shattered moon seemed bright to her unadjusted eyes. Without moving her head, she could see most of the room that she shared with Nora and Blake. The plain cream colored walls, which seemed almost grey in the dark, were sparse and undecorated. The room contained four simple beds, the grey steel frames and white sheets so uninteresting it was easy to forget they were there. A door next to the entrance to the room led to a small bathroom, which contained a toilet, sink, and tiny shower. The closet was situated in the wall next to the bathroom door, and their dresser next to that. All in all, the room was even emptier than their rooms at the fortress had been, but the three girls had stopped being concerned with the contents of their rooms months ago. Their night upon returning to this room was uneventful, the events of the earlier council meeting not enough to truly excite the girls.

Nora had taken the bed closest to the door, her blanket wrapping around her like a cotton cocoon. Weiss occupied the bed closest to the window, farthest from the door to their room. Blake had the bed opposite of Weiss. Blake's direction was where the shuffling was coming from, but before Weiss could raise her head to investigate Blake stepped into her line of sight, towards the dresser. Weiss watched in stillness and silence as Blake undressed and changed into a second set of nightclothes as silently as she could manage.

Weiss was surprised to see this; Blake had told her that the bad dreams had stopped a couple months ago. This was before Weiss had become proficient at reading people, but Weiss silently berated herself for not pursuing the matter later so that she could see if she could somehow help her friend. For tonight, Weiss decided that there was no reason to confront Blake until morning. Blake slid back into her bed, curling up into a ball and returning to sleep. After a few minutes of silence, Weiss followed suit and returned to her slumber.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blake spat out the frothy mix of toothpaste, water, and saliva that had accumulated in her mouth. She gargled a mouthful of water from the faucet to clear her mouth before wiping off the condensation on the mirror so she could check her canines to make sure they weren't chipped. Poking and prodding them with her fingers and her tongue, Blake could feel no chips or scrapes on her canines, and she ran her tongue across the front of her teeth in satisfaction. Keeping her canines sharp and healthy was a matter of pride for Blake, both because Yang had loved her canines and because she felt it was another sign of her faunus heritage that she needed to embrace rather than hide.

"Blake, could you pass me the shampoo?" Nora called from inside the glass shower next to Blake. Blake reached up to the shelf on the wall and grabbed the bottle, throwing it over the glass door to Nora, who caught it. "Thanks."

"No problem." Blake said as she left the bathroom in only her underwear and closed the door behind her. She strode over to her bed and threw her damp towel onto the rumpled sheets as she pulled some jeans on. "Morning, Weiss." The faunus greeted the heiress, who was sitting on the edge of her bed and brushing her hair.

"Good morning, Blake." Weiss returned the greeting. Weiss set her brush down next to her before pulling her hair up into the ponytail on the side of her head. "Do you have a minute to talk, Blake?"

"Sure." Blake answered as she reached over and tossed her towel into their laundry basket before starting to make her bed. "What's up?"

"I wanted… I wanted to talk to you about your dreams." Weiss began nervously. "I saw you last night. I know you told me you were fine, but-"

"I am fine." Blake interrupted, fluffing her pillow just a little more roughly than necessary.

Weiss continued on. "-but it seems like they're still happening. Are they still happening every night?"

"I'm fine, Weiss." Blake said firmly, clearly not wanting to pursue the topic.

"No, Blake, you aren't." Weiss countered even more firmly. "Have you been having nightmares every night?" Blake glared at Weiss, clearly displeased. But Weiss looked back, unfazed. Finally, Blake nodded a confirmation. "For how long?" Weiss followed up.

Blake stayed silent, hoping that if she dragged the conversation out long enough that either Weiss would give up on it or that Nora would interrupt. "… Ever since Beacon." She answered slowly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Weiss pleaded softly. "I could've helped."

"How, Weiss?" Blake raised her voice. "How could you have helped me through this?"

"We could've have talked about it, worked through it together instead of-" Weiss started.

"How would that have helped!" Blake yelled. "We were all too busy trying to figure out what happened! No time to grieve, no time to rest, we threw ourselves into anything else we could find to try to keep from thinking too hard about what we lost." Blake's fists were clenched at her sides. "That stupid door doesn't interfere with my dedication and anything else besides a little bit of sleep, so let it go!"

Weiss had to take a minute to wrap her mind through what Blake had said. Weiss couldn't deny that they hadn't given themselves proper time to grieve and recover, but that was an unavoidable consequence of their decisions. She also could not disagree that they were avoiding trying to think about what they lost. But it was Blake's final statement that stood out to Weiss. "I know it's been rough, and that we've both lost someone we loved." Weiss felt a flash of embarrassment that she had admitted to someone her feelings for Ruby, even if indirectly, but continued on. "What door are you talking about? Are you dreaming about a door?"

Blake sat down heavily on her bed. "I'm sorry, Weiss. I know I shouldn't have lashed out." She put her head down in her hands. "We've both lost someone important." She took a deep breath as she kept her head down. "And yes, I'm dreaming about a stupid door."

"Can you tell me about it?" Weiss asked carefully. She didn't exactly know anything about dreams or interpreting them, but Weiss thought that getting Blake to talk about it would be a good start.

Blake let out a long breath. "There really isn't much to talk about. There's just this door, every night. I'm standing in front of it, and I want to open it, but I can't, and it makes me really nervous and anxious, and… I can't explain it. It's not a nightmare. Just a strange dream that won't go away." Blake flopped on her back.

Weiss couldn't think of a response to the strange answer. She was expecting a nightmare, or some sort of dilemma. Not a locked door. "Maybe it represents trying to move on, but not being able to?" Weiss suggested. Weiss decided that if Blake was opening up to her, maybe she should open up a little to Blake. "I have a dream about Ruby, sometimes." Weiss started. The ears on top of Blake's head twitched slightly at this, as Blake was surprised that Weiss was opening up to her for once. Weiss wasn't very open even before this whole mess. "We're sitting back to back on the ground in a snowy forest, talking."

"What about?" Blake asked.

"Everything." Weiss answered. "School, cookies, dust, weapons, our friends and family." Weiss sat down next to Blake. "But I never see her. Every time I decide to turn around to see her, she isn't there anymore. Sometimes I think I can see her cloak or hand out of the corner of my eye, but if I turn to look then she's gone."

"I guess we both have dreams that are a little strange." Blake said.

"But mine don't wake me up every night, and I don't have that dream every night, Blake." Weiss corrected calmly. "Is there more to your dream?"

Blake shook her head while she was still lying on the bed with her arms out to each side. "No, that's it. I don't know why it wakes me up every night. Probably just a natural response by now." Further discussion between the two was cut short as Nora walked out of the bathroom naked, toweling her hair dry. "We can talk about it another time." Blake said, sitting up and continuing to get her supplies for the day ready.

"All right then." Weiss conceded. She looked over at Nora, who was busy pulling on some underclothes. "Do you two have plans today?" Weiss had a meeting with Councilor Crane and some military officers, but wasn't aware of any plans that her two companions had.

"We got a message from Crane to accompany you." Nora answered as she stood on the tips of her toes in an attempt to get a better view of the higher shelves in the closet. Weiss would offer to help, but as she was the shortest of her friends she doubted she'd be of much assistance. Nora hopped up and grabbed a grey t-shirt off the top shelf. "He didn't say why."

"I see." Weiss answered. The three of them finished their morning routine, getting dressed and cleaning the room they were in. Their clothes were fairly plain, but would work. The three of them were all wearing grey t-shirts and blue jeans, the only clothes supplied in their closet. Crane's message had informed Weiss that she was leaving for the forward base, and that everything she needed would be supplied there, or could be requested. She supposed that Nora and Blake would be joining her now. This left them able to travel lightly once again, bringing only their weapons and a few keepsakes that they always kept on them. Blake had her orange scarf from Yang, Nora had her plushie of Ren, and Weiss had a laminated picture of her and her former team she kept in her pocket.

They left their temporary quarters and spent the next few minutes walking up to the rooftop, where an airship would be arriving to pick them up. Ozpin was waiting on the rooftop to greet them. "Good morning, young ladies."

"Good morning, Professor." Weiss greeted along with the other girls.

"It seems this will be the last I will see of you for a while." Ozpin said, looking over his glasses at them. "I obviously will not be able to visit you freely while you're on the battlefield. And I would like to give you a parting gift, but unfortunately I'm not very good at figuring out gifts." He reached into his pocket and pulled out three small pouches. "So I settled on something functional and small." He handed each girl a small blue pouch, which clinked as he gently set once in each girl's palm.

Weiss untied the yellow string at the opening of her pouch, and was greeted by vials of dust, all sorts of different colors. Nora had pulled out one of her vials, and Blake retied the pouch shut, satisfied at knowing what it contained. Each vial contained a single dust crystal of moderate size, shining brilliantly in the morning sunlight. "Thank you for the gift, Professor." Weiss said, Blake and Nora following suit.

"I figured that they may come in handy one day where you're going." Ozpin shrugged.

"I'm sure we'll make good use of them." Blake assured with a smile. Their thanks were interrupted by the steadily increasing roar of an airship painted with the Sun of Vytal, the kingdom's symbol. The pair of crossed swords behind a beveled edged shield under the sun indicated this ship belonged to the Vytal military. "Our ride is here." Blake observed.

The ship eased into a gentle landing, and the door panel swung open, revealing Councilor Crane. He appeared to be wearing a the same style of suit as he did at the council meeting, but this one was grey with a black trim rather than the straight black he wore before. He waved at the gathered group leisurely. Ozpin returned the wave before turning back to the girls. "There isn't much else for me to say, I suppose. Come back safely once you've won the war, young ladies. Farewell." And without further comment or ceremony, Ozpin returned to the rooftop door and descended the stairwell, closing the door behind him.

The brief moment of stillness was broken by Nora. "Let's go." Weiss and Blake nodded their agreement and followed Nora onto the airship, shaking Councilor Crane's hand as they entered. As they sat in the empty seats, the airship engines which had been quietly idling returned to life and lifted the airship and its passengers back into the sky before the girls and the councilor could settle into their seats. The noise of the engines was quiet in the passenger cabin, allowing the girls to look behind the councilor to see two older men and one middle aged woman in military uniforms looking back at them.

The first man was short, thin, and looked far too old to be an active member of the military. He had no hair to speak of on his head, and his pale, wrinkled skin appeared to be drooping in places. The second man was far younger, having a fit and muscular body that strained his uniform in places. He was old enough that his buzz cut hair had turned completely grey. His face looked rough and chiseled, as if he had once been carved from sandstone. The woman appeared to be about the same age as the second man, her once black hair peppered with grey and pulled back into a tight bun on the back of her head. Her face held a mature and matronly femininity, dignified yet caring. Her short stature was accompanied by a thin body which appeared to be devoid of body fat, but what was left was toned muscle. The first man had four small swords pinned to his shoulder, making him a general; the second man had a small shield, making him a colonel; the woman had three swords, making her a lieutenant general. The huntresses immediately recognized that all three of the people before them were very highly ranked in the Vytal military.

Councilor Crane cleared his throat and held out his hand towards each of the girls in turn as he introduced them. "Miss Schnee, Miss Belladonna, Miss Valkyrie." He said. "I'd like to introduce you to General Kosti, Colonel Sten, and Lieutenant General Songen." He gestured down the line of officers. "And vice versa." He finished with a smile.

General Kosti only nodded in greeting, his face unchanging in its pensiveness. Colonel Sten stood and shook each girls hand, greeting them individually with a stoic look that Weiss imagined must be his default expression from the way he carried himself. Lieutenant General Songen also stood to shake their hands, but she at least had a smile on her face. "Pleasure to meet you, dears." She greeted before sitting back in her seat.

With their brief introductions finished, Councilor Crane continued on. "Well, we are here today to begin the integration of the hunters into the Vytal military. This is new ground for us, but I believe we can work through it." He beamed a smile at everyone. "General Kosti is in charge of the Vytal military, who was gracious enough to join us today during a standstill on the front lines due to poor weather conditions."

General Kosti nodded again, but spoke this time. His voice was a sort of loud, gravelly growl that Weiss found strange and out of place in the old man's thin, bony frame. "I am glad the council has finally decided to see some sense." He said, his eyes glancing at Councilor Crane for the briefest of moments. He clearly was not a fan of politicians and their games, which all three of the huntresses approved of.

"Hey, I did what I could." Councilor Crane protested, half sheepishly and half playfully.

"What you should have done was being this wonderful young lady to a council meeting sooner." He said, holding his hand out to indicate Nora. "I heard about your… altercation… with Chairman Meatbag." The other two officers snickered at the nickname for the fat, greedy Chairman of the council. "And I must say I was sorely disappointed to have not seen it myself. You have my thanks for teaching that horrid creature a lesson." He bowed his head a few inches out of respect.

Nora only nodded, the corners of her mouth turning up just a hair at the memory of hospitalizing the chairman. "It was my pleasure."

Everyone shared a quick laugh at the General's and Nora's interaction, enjoying the momentary respite from thoughts of war. "But I digress. We must discuss as much as we can, as soon as we can." General Kosti continued. "As Councilor has no doubt told you, the war effort is not going well. We are being pushed back farther every week, their numbers overcoming any strategy we attempt to implement." He nodded to Lieutenant General Songen.

"Our attempts to gather intelligence on their motives for the war have left us with more questions than answers, as well." Lieutenant General Songen took over. "The few soldiers we have captured hate us with a passion, believing us to be, and I'll spare you their colorful language, evil people. We've learned that they believe that we attacked them first, destroying and burning down a small town near the Vytal-Vacuoan border." She shrugged. "Which of course our own military did not do, nor do any records indicate a group of hunters or even criminals did this."

Councilor Crane took over, explaining some more details that the military might not have. "We were first contacted by Vacuoan politicians and military officers, who demanded an explanation and compensation for the destruction of their town." He began. "We obviously had no idea what they were talking about, which is when they declared war on us, citing aggressive actions and war crimes on our part. And now… you know the rest. They hate us for supposedly destroying one of their towns; we hate them for attacking us without cause and for killing our innocents."

"Terrorist attacks, maybe?" Weiss suggested. "There are all sorts of criminals out there."

"Roman Torchwick is still out there, for instance." Blake added, remembering the criminal.

"We've considered that, but we have no evidence of it happening. We've investigated the border, but we've seen no signs of unauthorized travel." Songen reported.

"We've created a special investigative team to determine what happened, but we're still waiting on results from that." Councilor Crane informed them. "But at this point it looks like Vacuo isn't interested in peace talks, even if we do figure out what happened."

"Regardless," Kosti interrupted, "we must discuss more details regarding bringing in hunters to join the fight." He looked at Weiss. "I understand that Ozpin placed you in charge of the integration."

"Yes, he did." Weiss said with a nod. "Which brings me to my questions about how much freedom I will have with decisions I make." Weiss was eager to help turn this war effort around, her intense gaze filled with determination.

"Excellent thinking." Kosti admitted. "But you need not worry about being throttled or going through other officers for strategic planning." He reached into his pocket and pulled out something in an envelope. "Because I've known Crane here for many years, I know that hunters are powerful. I know that I don't know anything about how hunters fight. I know that you've spent months training more intensively than any soldier or officer in our army has. Which means you need the freedom to do what you need to get done." He set the envelope in Weiss' hand.

Weiss looked down at the envelope questioningly, but she suspected she knew what was inside. Unfastening the metal bracket and upending it over her hand, a pair of pins fell into her hands. Each pin was cast silver, in the shape of the Vytal military- a beveled edged shield with a pair of crossed long swords behind it. Unlike the standard military symbol, the shield had the Sun of Vytal etched into it, making it distinguishable from the rest of the military. "I'm not familiar with this rank." Weiss responded.

"Because it didn't exist until this morning. I had to call in some favors, but you are now the first Lord Commander of the Vytal military." General Kosti explained.

"I'm honored." Weiss responded with a slight bow. "Where does a 'Lord Commander' fall in the chain of command?"

"Well, the Lord Commander would fall a little outside the standard chain of command. You retain command of all the hunters and the squads they are in, in addition to normal control over the rest of the military. If I had to throw you into the chain of command, you would probably be my equal. You also have free reign to promote and assign rank to soldiers and hunters as you see fit." Kosti revealed.

"Impressive." Blake stated with a grin. "Looks like you'll be ordering us into battle in no time." Blake said to Weiss.

"Well, I'll need more than two huntresses." Weiss said with a grin.

"You'll have more soon." Councilor Crane assured. "Tamamo has informed me that the training is continuing well, and you'll have more graduating and joining you in a few days."

"You know Tamamo?" Blake asked.

Councilor Crane shuddered. "Yeah." His one word responses and the way he tugged at his shirt collar gave them the impression that his memories of Tamamo were not the most pleasant memories. The other three officers also looked away nervously. They had obviously met or known Tamamo at some point as well.

"It looks like you're experiences with Tamamo weren't exactly standard." Weiss observed with a chuckle.

"No, they were not." General Kosti admitted.

"Ahem." Colonel Sten made his first contribution to their conversation. "We should begin reviewing our battle plans before we land, General."

"Yes, yes. Hit the ground running." Kosti agreed. "Let us begin our discussions."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ozpin sat back down at his desk, having just finished his lectures for the day. He occupied his time now reading applications for the teaching position that he had opened to the public, and communicating with the architects and construction crews rebuilding Beacon to make sure everything was going as planned. He finished reading the different applications, dissatisfied with today's batch. He filed them away in a cabinet just to be organized, despite knowing he would most likely never look at that batch again.

The sound of a falling stack of papers outside his door drew his attention; followed Glynda's muffled voice of protest. And while he was confident Glynda could handle whatever the issue was, he reasoned he should at least check on his friend. Calmly striding over to the door, cane in hand, Ozpin grasped the handle and opened the door to his office. His eyes fell on Glynda's back, who was standing in front of his door protectively with her riding crop raised defensively in front of her. "Is there a problem, Glynda?"

"Headmaster! Please stay in your office while I deal with this criminal." Glynda said, adjusting her stance so she was standing in front of Ozpin. Ozpin leaned around Glynda to get a look at this 'criminal' she was referring to. He saw a man with bright orange hair, with bangs that swept over one of his bright green eyes. Covering his bright orange hair was a red banded bowler hat, a contrast to his red-collared, formal white jacket and grey scarf. His black slacks and black shoes provided further contrast with his white jacket. His hands, covered with black gloves, were held up in a calm gesture of surrender.

"Hello, Ozzy." Roman Torchwick greeted with a smug smile. "Miss me?"

"Roman." Ozpin said. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Headmaster, we really should not be speaking to this horrid man." Glynda protested. "You remember what he did."

"I am aware, yes." Ozpin answered as Torchwick held his place, shifting his weight more to one leg as he waited.

"Calm down, I'm not here with any ill intentions. I'm here to make a business proposition, if you must know." Torchwick said condescendingly.

"Then by all means, come in my office." Ozpin said, backing into his office and gesturing for Torchwick to follow.

"Pardon, headmaster?" Glynda said incredulously. "Surely we should just apprehend him."

"I can at least listen to his proposition." Ozpin replied calmly.

Roman dropped his hands back to his side and grabbed his cane, which was hooked into his right pocket. "Excellent." He strutted into Ozpin's office, Glynda following behind him and watching Torchwick closely, leaving the fallen papers on the ground behind her.

"Would you like some coffee? Tea?" Ozpin offered.

"Some coffee would be appreciated." Roman answered as he sat in the leather swivel chair in front of Ozpin's cluttered desk.

Ozpin poured three cups of coffee from his coffee pot, handing one to each of the other two and another for himself. "So." He began. "Your business proposition."

"Yes, my business proposition." Roman responded. He sipped his coffee. "This coffee is excellent. What brand is this? I simply must get myself some."

"Beans from the Lotus Farms. Owned and run by Lie Zhànshì and Lie Huā." Ozpin answered simply.

"Ah, Zan and Huā. Good people. Their son is a student here, right?" Roman asked conversationally as he continued sipping his coffee.

"Not anymore, no." Ozpin responded. "He died in the attack."

"Pity." Roman said with a shrug, clearly not caring one way or another about the death of some boy he never knew, even if he did once know that boy's parents. "So my proposition." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a folder with a packet of papers inside. He tossed the papers towards Ozpin, who caught the papers and opened the folders to inspect its contents.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "This is not what I expected." He said. The folder outlined shipping and purchase plans for large quantities of dust, weapons, medical supplies, and various other items that would be useful to a war effort. "You want to sell me war supplies. A whole lot of war supplies."

"I do indeed." Torchwick answered.

"Are you trying to profit off of the war?" Glynda asked disapprovingly.

"Quite the opposite, actually." Torchwick said his long eyelashes fluttering teasingly as he looked at Glynda over his mug of coffee. Glynda only huffed as she glared at him.

"You're selling this… _really_ cheap." Ozpin said as he continued reading the packet of papers. "You're selling me these products at thirty-two percent of their value. How do you stand to make money from this? If these are the deals you normally make, you are quite the poor businessman."

"I am actually quite the _good_ businessman." Torchwick countered with a smile. "I'm selling you some of my inventory because I need business, for one. Second, I can't do business if everyone gets conquered by some fool country with an agenda. I need this war to end."

"What, can't rob people if some other country robs them first?" Glynda shot snidely.

"That too. But it's more that my people and I can't compete with an army for control over a kingdom. And I do have legitimate businesses too, you know. I'm investing in the long term with this deal." Torchwick countered smoothly. "And I can't exactly walk up to our own fine men and women in uniform and propose a business deal. They'd probably shoot me."

"I'm still debating it." Glynda retorted.

"So feisty. Growl." Torchwick grinned as he mimicked a cat clawing the air with one hand.

"What makes you think we'll take this deal? I agree that supplies this cheap would be a great boon for the military, but you are a criminal after all." Ozpin asked, setting down the folder.

"The enemy of my enemy is a friend, we have a common goal, strength in numbers, the lesser of two evils. Whatever you want to call it." Torchwick said, waving one hand in the air.

Ozpin leaned back in his chair and brought his fingertips together in front of him. "And after the war? We go back to hunting you down, and you go back to your… 'businesses?'"

"Of course." Torchwick said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Headmaster, you can't seriously be thinking about agreeing to this." Glynda protested.

"I can't say I like doing this, but I will agree that our soldiers desperately need these supplies." Ozpin sighed. "I will broker a deal with the military. I assume you have enough legitimate businesses to act as fronts so your own name doesn't come up?"

"Already prepared and ready to go." Torchwick answered with a grin.

"I'll set it up then. You'll have your money, and our army will have its much needed supplies." Ozpin said while standing. He held out his hand.

Torchwick shook Ozpin's hand, smiling in victory. "Deal."


	14. To War

Discussing the battle plans proved more difficult than Weiss had originally anticipated. The three officers in front of her weren't exaggerating when they had told her they knew little to nothing about how hunters fought, and Weiss was beginning to find explaining something to them every few minutes tiring. Blake took pity on Weiss and assisted with the explanations, nudging a reluctant Nora and getting her to help as well. With their assistance, Weiss' suggestions, plans, and explanations went by much faster. Councilor Crane offered his own thoughts once in a while from a logistical standpoint, as he had never trained for a war as a hunter either, but had experience as a politician who needed to make careful use of money.

"… and that is how I believe we should appropriate hunters into the general infantry." Weiss concluded. Weiss had outlined her plans for using hunters in war. The ideas that the three officers had proposed to her were shabby at best, treating hunters and their skill sets as if they were standard soldiers. Their plans didn't take into account the variety of hunters, their weapons, and their skills, which was one of the main points of contention in their plans. Eventually Weiss managed to bring them around to agree to her deployment plans.

Weiss' main plan was designed so that the hunters would not be in squads or teams made up of only other hunters. They needed to be in with the rest of the soldiers, both for moral and for firepower distribution. Weiss didn't want the hunters to be seen as superior, more important individuals that the soldiers were only around to soak up attacks for. She needed the hunters and soldiers to work together, to get along and support one another. So her plan involved integrating single hunters into specific squads, designed for a specific purpose or role. Hunters with specializations like Weiss, Blake, or Nora could be given roles that suited their skills, but hunters who may not necessarily have a specialized skill set could provide invaluable support and a boost to effectiveness for the soldiers in their squads.

Other plans that involved more specifics were also tossed around, such as infiltration or commando units of hunters, but were placed on the sidelines in favor of a better general battle plan for the moment. "I think once I have a better idea of the soldiers and the gear I'll have a good idea of where I can put you in the army." Weiss told Blake and Nora in passing.

"As long as I'm not sitting back doing nothing." Nora responded. Blake's only nodded, confident in Weiss' decision making capabilities. "I want to be doing serious damage."

Weiss nodded, aware that a mix of revenge and anger that Nora kept tightly controlled and focused were all that was keeping her going. If Nora had to sit back and watch others fight as she stood behind the front lines, Weiss was sure Nora would rebel and simply charge into battle of her own accord. "I'll make sure to put you where you can do the most damage possible." Weiss assured her. She was sure she would have to confront Nora about her mental state someday, but the time had never seemed right yet.

Static crackled over the speakers. "ETA five minutes until touchdown." The pilot reported from over the speakers.

General Kosti stood, holding the hand rails running along the ceiling. "We're almost at our base camp." He announced. "It's fairly well fortified on high ground, with watchtowers and gun emplacements. We've been able to hold them here for about a month, though that's mostly because of the snow." He shrugged his small shoulders. "But we haven't been able to push them back either." He sighed.

"Well, hopefully we'll be able to change that." Weiss said.

"General, we've got activity at base camp, over." The pilot interrupted.

General Kosti dashed to the cockpit with a surprising spryness, his great age not hindering him as much as the three huntresses would have thought. "Let me see." He looked out of the cockpit window towards the horizon. Weiss peeked over his shoulder, looking in the same direction. The two of them could see bright flashes and plumes of smoke in the distance. "We're under attack." General Kosti said, surprised. "I can't believe they attacked in this weather." He continued, looking down at the deep snow on the ground far below them.

"We have to get there fast." Weiss urged. "Can we go any faster?" she asked the pilot.

"Way ahead of you, 'ma'am." The pilot answered as the airship gunned forward.

"Colonel Sten! Contact base camp and get all the intel you can! Give us a secure connection to communications!" General Kosti ordered. He continued looking towards the battle, angry at his own current helplessness.

"Connection with communications established, sir." Colonel Sten reported as he set his military grade scroll on the seat next to him.

The screen flickered to life with a hiss of noise and a young man's face popped up on screen. He was shaved bald, with tanned skin that was currently covered in a sheen of sweat as he worked frantically. "Colonel! It's good to hear from you, sir."

"I need all the intel you have, Captain Koma. We're flying back as fast as we can and need to know what's happening." Colonel Sten continued calmly.

"Yes, sir!" the Captain saluted before turning and rushing off screen. Behind where he was sitting was the interior of a beige burlap tent, with other communications officers relaying orders throughout the field, trying to bring order to their defensive lines. They were working in poor lighting, with the portable lights flickering with every nearby explosion, the only constant light source being the screens of the monitors and scrolls they were using. Captain Koma returned only moments after he rushed off screen, holding some sort of black electronic device that he plugged into his scroll. "Major Swift is leading the defense, but it's not looking so good, sir." He added as the a red light on the device switched to green and data began appearing on screen.

The three huntresses and three officers began reading the data as Captain Koma began giving them a verbal summary. "The attack began just under an hour ago. They outnumber us on the ground three to one, but we managed to take down all their air support before our anti-air got taken out." He ducked his head down and covered his head with his hands as an explosive shell landed a little too close for comfort. He sat back up just a moment later an continued unfazed. "Major Swift is still holding the line, but our lines are weakening. We'll be overrun soon. I personally recommend you retreat to our rear base with what men we have left." He said with a resigned look on his face.

General Kosti looked at the map on the scroll, the little blue lights that represented his own soldiers in a line with bulges where the Vacuoan soldiers were beginning to push the Vytal defensive line back. He sighed. "We may have to concede more ground and come up with a retreat strategy."

"No." Weiss said forcefully. General Kosti looked at her in surprise. "We can turn this around." She was quickly scrolling through the information that was being streamed to them from the battlefield.

"We've lost a third of our men, Lord Commander." Colonel Sten told her. "That's not something you can 'turn around' when you're already outnumbered three to one."

"If war was just a numbers game on a simulator, I would agree with you." Weiss replied. "But with tactics and hunters, we can do this." She turned to General Kosti and Lieutenant General Songen, who were watching the exchange in silent contemplation. "You made me a Lord Commander because you believed in what we could do. Let me prove our worth." She stared intently at him, waiting for a response from the leader of the war effort.

General Kosti just stared back at her, and then heaved a heavy sigh. "Fine." He waved a hand at the scroll on the chair. "You have control. But if anything goes wrong, we're switching plans to a full retreat to our rear base."

"Thank you." Weiss said. "Captain Koma, you reported that they have no more air support. What about anti-air weapons?"

The Captain blinked once, shifting his gaze to General Kosti. "Consider her orders equal to my own." Kosti ordered the Captain.

Captain Koma nodded, one eyebrow raised up just a hair in surprise that a girl years younger than him was in command, but accepted it easily enough once General Kosti assured him of her position. "The Vacuoan army doesn't field any dedicated anti-aircraft weapons, as far as we can tell. We don't have enough aircraft to be a threat to theirs. Their 'anti-aircraft' is just their own aircraft." He reported to Weiss.

Weiss nodded. She jogged up to the cockpit of their ship and poked her head in "How far away are we?"

The pilot looked at the monitors in front of him. "Just under a minute."

"Okay. Don't land when we get there- coast above the battle once, towards the enemy's rear. Just barely out of range of their ground forces. I want to see the battlefield from above." Weiss ordered.

"Understood, ma'am." The pilot reported, evening out the flight path and altering their trajectory a few degrees.

Weiss rushed back to the passenger cabin and looked at the tactical map on the scroll again. A blip representing the airship she was on appeared at the edge of it. "Okay, Nora." Weiss turned to look at the quiet huntress. "You're going in hard and fast. We'll be doing a flyby over the battlefield, and I want you to jump down into the middle of it.

Nora smiled the first smile that Weiss and Blake had seen from her in months. It was a smile that did not touch her eyes, which held an expression far more sinister. "My pleasure." She unlimbered Magnhild from her back, checking the firing mechanism.

"Without time for a proper deployment plan, I only have some very general orders for you." Weiss started. "Disrupt their lines, break moral. Don't worry about killing them if you don't need to. Just go for the biggest targets you can find. But do _not_ get too far from our own soldiers. They will be providing support for you. Don't take any unnecessary risks; you need to be alive after this." Weiss finished.

Nora primed her grenade launcher. "Not a problem. I plan on living long enough to win this war." She unclipped the Ren plushie from her belt loop and stuffed it inside the front of her grey shirt, between her breasts. "So I won't lose him again." She explained to the perplexed officers.

"We'll be over the battlefield in fifteen seconds!" the pilot called out.

"Open the rear loading door!" Weiss yelled back. The loading door groaned in protest a moment later, slowly lowering to provide the exit Nora needed. "Good luck, Nora!" Weiss yelled over the roaring wind.

Nora just nodded, Magnhild ready at her side. Weiss peeked over the edge of the airship, trying to judge the distance to the front lines. Just a few more seconds… "Now, Nora!"

Nora got a running start and then leaped off the airship, which was flying hundreds of feet above the ground. The wind whipped her away, the airship leaving her far behind in just seconds. Colonel Sten peered down after her. "This is crazy!" he yelled over the wind. "She'll never survive the fall!"

"She'll be fine!" Weiss responded. She was looking down at the battlefield as they flew above it, committing all the information she was seeing to memory. Formations, numbers, distributions, landscape. Once she was confident she had seen enough, she turned back and made her way towards the rest of the group, away from the deafening wind at the rear of the airship. The airship had passed over the battle completely now. "Turn hard back towards the battle!" Weiss yelled back to the cockpit. "And land at the back of our forces!" The ship banked left hard in response, turning back towards the battlefield they had passed just seconds ago.

Weiss looked at Lieutenant General Songen. "I need you to get orders to Major swift about providing support for Nora, and that I will take full control of our forces once we land." Songen nodded before returning her attention to the scroll and relaying Weiss' orders to Captain Koma.

"I have a sneaking suspicion I know where you want me." Blake said as she stepped up beside Weiss.

"At the back of their lines." Weiss said, confirming Blake's suspicions. "Assassinate anyone who looks important. Don't worry about fighting the soldiers if you can avoid it." Weiss said. "I don't want to send you in alone, but we don't have many options at this point."

"I'm sure they'll be too busy dealing with Nora to notice me." Blake said with a grin as she strode to the loading door and nonchalantly walked off the edge lazily, falling towards the snowy ground far below, behind enemy lines.

"You hunters are insane." Colonel Sten commented as he watched the second huntress fall to the ground far below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nora was falling eagle spread towards the ground below her at high speed. She was holding Magnhild out in one hand while she shifted the angle of her body to direct her fall, not wanting to land in the middle of her own allied soldiers' quickly failing formation. Closer and closer she fell, before changing her position so she wasn't eagle spread anymore, being close enough to no longer worry about directing her fall. In preparation for her high velocity landing, Nora pulled her legs under her so she could land on her feet, strengthening and reinforcing her entire body with aura so the impact wouldn't damage her. She then decided she might as well introduce herself to the Vacuoan soldiers that were currently occupying her landing zone.

Nora pointed Magnhild towards the spot in the center of the Vacuoan lines that she had chosen as her landing zone and pulled the trigger once, twice, three times. The grenades flew ahead of her, the force of their ejection throwing Nora into a backwards spin. She pivoted in the air so that she was facing forward, shifted her weapon into its mighty hammer form, and used the weight of her hammer to add momentum to her spin. At this moment her three grenades impacted, one right after the other, killing and throwing Vacuoan soldiers away from her impact zone like ragdolls. The pink explosions drew the eyes of soldiers on both sides, who only had a moment of time to see a brief spinning blur when they looked up before Nora smashed into the ground, hammer leading the way. The impact, born of a great fall in addition to the momentum from her spin, was far more destructive than her three grenades had been, throwing a massive shockwave through the earth around where she landed.

The shockwave threw up rocks, dirt, and Vacuoan soldiers alike without discrimination, soldiers screaming in pain as all sorts of bones in their bodies snapped and shattered under the tremendous impact. Shattered stones exploded into shards and shredded even more soldiers, clouds of dirt obscured Nora as she stood up in the center of her personal crater. Around her, the fighting stopped as the soldiers looked at this destructive force that was currently obscured by a cloud of dirt, dust, and grass. As the view cleared, most of the soldiers reacted with confusion when they saw a young girl, shorter and smaller than nearly all of them. Their surprise turned to fear as they laid eyes on Nora's shining silver hammer, which she lifted easily in one hand and placed on her shoulder.

"How's that for disrupting the lines, Weiss?" Nora said to herself with a satisfied, sadistic smile. The soldiers immediately around her backed away, frightened and unsure of what to make about the young girl in front of them. Nora decided that leaving them in uncertainty was impolite, and began making her position as their enemy very clear by smashing her hammer into them, each swing of her mighty weapon shattering bones and ending lives.

Within moments the chaos of battle returned, but now the closest Vacuoan soldiers had a new objective: Stay away from the hammer wielding huntress. They were, for the most part, unsuccessful in that objective as Nora leapt into the center of any large clump of soldiers that tried to regroup and immediately shattered the formation with her powerful attacks. Any retaliatory attacks, whether from sword or gun, were easily deflected by her hammer, and any that got through her hammer were repelled by her aura.

Nora's attention was soon drawn to a figure walking the battlefield, firing weapons at the Vytal soldiers. It had four spider like legs, with an upright, vaguely humanoid torso with two cannons for arms and two more shoulder mounted cannons, all firing repeatedly at Nora's allies, causing devastating amounts of damage. 'That definitely counts as a big target.' Nora thought to herself, charging the giant, green painted robot head on.

Nora was flanking the robot, charging it from the side. It never saw her coming as she leapt into the air and brought her hammer down on its left shoulder cannon, caving in the firing chamber. It turned and tried to fire its left shoulder cannon at Nora, but unfortunately for the war robot, the collapsed firing chamber meant the energy was unable to leave the chamber. The result was the cannon exploding, destroying both the left shoulder and arm cannons, leaving only the two right cannons. Nora, who had landed close to the damaged robot, swung hard at one of its forward legs to try to cripple it.

The robot responded quickly, and lifted its leg up out of the way. Nora's hammer swung just under the raised leg, which the robot then brought down to smash into Nora, throwing her back and causing her to lose her grip on Magnhild. As the huntress landed on her back she used the impact to flip backwards over herself, coming to her feet in the snow smoothly, but weaponless.

Not having her hammer was no problem for Nora, and she just charged the robot once more, side stepping the two cannon shots it leveled her way before leaping up at its main body. The robot responded by swinging one arm viciously at the airborne huntress, but Nora pulled her legs up and over the attack, and landed on the robot's shoulder. Grabbing tightly onto the remaining shoulder mounted cannon, Nora pulled with all her might. The robot shook itself like a wet dog to try to dislodge the huntress, but the movement only served to give Nora the extra punch she need to rip the shoulder cannon of its mount. Substituting her hammer with the even larger cannon, Nora brought the massive cannon down onto the 'head' of the robot, smashing it into the rest of its body.

The robot faltered, trying to maintain its footing but instead stumbling around like a drunk. Its stumbling movements even ended up knocking down or crushing a few Vacuoan soldiers that ventured to near the battle. The robots efforts to stay upright were in vain, as Nora simply brought the cannon above her head and smashed it back into it once again, turning it into a pile of twitching scrap metal. She leapt off towards her hammer, rolling and picking it up in a single, smooth motion. All around her the Vacuoan army was trying to stay as far away from her as possible, desperate to put distance between them and the girl who could rip apart a war robot with her bare hands. Nora just smiled and laughed, leaping back into battle once more.

Wherever Nora went, soldiers fell by the dozens and the Vytal soldiers' lines slowly recovered. The front lines were stabilizing, but Nora was soon finding that she was taking on an increasing number of injuries as she grew tired and her aura began to falter from defending her from so many strikes, intentional or not. She had to step down her attacks, relying on her allied soldiers more. But the lines were holding steady now, which was an improvement, even if they couldn't push back yet. But that wasn't Nora's concern- she was concerned only with destroying any soldiers stood before her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Blake, meanwhile, had not been idle. She had landed in a snow bank with a puff of snow behind the enemy lines. The thick snow cushioned her fall, though Blake would have been fine just landing on the ground normally. Blake had to climb out of the snow bank, having sunk into it farther than she was tall, which was in inconvenience. Once she reached the surface of the snow she crouched back down in the snow to hide her presence. As she was falling, her acute vision noticed that a squad of soldiers at the rear may have noticed her falling as they watched the airship, even if they had been too far away to distinguish that is was in fact a person falling and not some sort of debris.

Her instincts were proven correct as she poked the top of her head above the snow bank and saw a small squad of five soldiers approaching her position. In the front of the group were two soldiers in heavy plate armor, each of them carrying a long sword and kite shield, walking side by side. Behind them in a line were the three other soldiers wearing standard solid green combat fatigues. Each of the three carried a rifle of some sort, and Blake could see the rifles appeared to be capable of full automatic fire. Since there was no cover immediately available to Blake, she elected to quickly and silently crawl under a layer of snow before they could get close enough to round the snow bank and see her.

The snow was cold, but Blake drew lightly on her aura to keep her warm while she patiently waited for the soldiers to approach. Blake could hear them approaching through the snow with her sensitive ears, slowly making their way around the snow bank while they investigated. They continued creeping closer, and Blake could hear one of them climbing up the snow bank to see if he could find whatever it was inside. "I think it fell inside!" he called down to his squad mates. As he climbed, he stepped on the snow covering Blake, but she was deep enough that he didn't notice the difference in footing. Just moments later the rest of the squad followed after him, none of them noticing Blake underneath their feet.

Once Blake counted that all five of the soldiers had walked over her, she sat up quickly, emerging from the snow and pouncing on the soldier at the rear of the line, drawing Gambol Shroud with her right hand as she silently flew through the air. She landed quietly on his back, wrapping her left hand around his mouth as she brought her feet down on the backs of his knees, dropping him into the soft snow beneath them. Before he could begin to attempt to vocalize any protests or struggle, Blake drove her katana into his side, piercing through his torso to cut through both kidneys, as well as everything between them. The intense pain and shock of the severe injury left the man unable to make any noise, his muscles so tensed up from pain he couldn't even attempt to breathe if he had the mental capabilities to choose to do so. Blake swept the blade forward, slicing through the rest of his abdominal organs to finish him off as she silently thanked Cheshire for his surprisingly detailed lessons on assassination and stealth.

Not wanting to trust a foothold under the snow she couldn't see, Blake used the dying soldier's body as firm ground in order to leap at the next soldier in line, who had not noticed his fallen comrade. His poor perception proved to be his undoing as Blake landed on his back as well, repeating the same assassination she and employed on the first soldier, leaving him bleeding out in the snow.

Blake was the victim of a stroke of bad luck though, as the third soldier in line turned to ask the ones behind him a question, only to see Blake crouching over the dead bodies of his allies. Before he could call out to his armored squad mates in front of him, Blake dashed forward and brought swung her katana at the soldier's throat and left a wide slash across it, severing both major arteries and the windpipe. He brought his hand up in a pointless effort to stem the waterfall of blood while falling to the ground, gurgling as the air escaped his lungs.

The two armored soldiers in the front finally heard the commotion behind them and turned around. They were stunned as they saw their dead allies laying in blood soaked snow, a single young girl wearing jeans and a t-shirt standing there with a weapon in hand. Blake reached over her should and grabbed the cleaver that doubled as her weapon sheath, hissing at the soldiers in front of her as she charged at them. These soldiers were veterans of many battles, and brought their shields up in front of them as they moved shoulder to should to minimize any exposed vulnerable areas that the fast moving assassin may attack.

Much to their surprise, Blake did not attempt to get around their shields. She instead leapt straight at them, kicking one of the shields with both of her feet and staggering the soldier as he stumbled backwards. Blake let her body fall to the ground on all fours, below the shield of the second soldier she didn't kick. She lashed out with her blade at one of the only unprotected areas she could reach- the back of his knee. As her katana passed through the lightly armored area at the joint, he crumbled to the ground as Blake severed the ligaments and tendons.

Blake left the crippled soldier on the ground, moving instead towards the now recovered soldier she first kicked. He held his shield defensively in front of him as he charged Blake, taking a wide swing from the side at the smaller faunus. Blake cart wheeled forward over the sword and his arm while swinging at his wrist with her cleaver. The cleaver was heavier than her katana, but still was unable to cut through the armored gauntlets he wore. Her cleaver being unable to cut off the hand was no surprise to Blake, who instead wanted to use the cleaver to cause blunt trauma damage. This resulted in the soldier crying out in pain as he reflexively dropped his sword to the ground, the bones in his wrist fracturing under the impact.

Blake let the momentum of her cartwheel continue bringing her forward and she brought her knees down on the soldier's armored shoulders. She then squeezed her legs shut around his helmet, crushing it against his head before twisting her hips violently and snapping his neck. As he fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut under her, Blake landed lightly on her feet as she made her way to the last soldier she had crippled seconds earlier.

This last soldier struggled to his feet, resting all his weight on his one working leg. "You're a monster." He spat at Blake.

"I think the word you're looking for is 'huntress." Blake responded calmly, replacing the cleaver on her back and raising her katana in front of her. The soldier's eyes widened in surprise and fear. He brought his sword and shield in front of him defensively, no longer interested in counter attacking and instead focused on survival. Blake slowly stepped forward towards him, waiting for an opening she could take. The soldier was playing it carefully though, and even with one crippled leg he left no openings.

As Blake circled around the defensive soldier, she remembered one of the first lessons Cheshire had taught her about real combat. "Many warriors, whether they're hunters or not, make the mistake of trying to go for the 'one strike kill.'" He had started. "They wait, drawing out the battle until they can go for that glorious finishing move. That's stupid." He said emotionlessly. "If the opportunity presents itself, of course you take that strike. But you don't wait for that one cut. Take every cut. One cut. Five cuts. Ten cuts. A hundred cuts. Your goal isn't to look pretty, you're goal is to kill. And dead is dead, whether it's from one cut or a hundred."

Blake took those words to heart. The soldier pivoted just a little too slow as Blake circled around him for the second time, and the tip of Blake's katana struck like a snake and jabbed into the unarmored crook of the elbow of his sword arm. The cut wasn't deep, but it was enough to nick the artery. The soldier almost dropped his sword, but held on through sheer willpower as his arm slowly began bleeding its strength all over the snow under him. As he lost more and more blood from his two injuries, the soldier began moving more and more sluggishly. He soon realized that he wasn't surviving this fight no matter what he did, and used the last of his strength to attack Blake.

He raised his sword up above his head to strike, and Blake took the opening. Using her preternatural speed, she dashed up inside his strike zone and stabbed her blade up into his armpit, cutting the major arteries and piercing his heart. Blake saw the light fade from his eyes as she yanked her katana back out of him and he fell to the ground. A part of her told herself that she should feel some sort of emotion at killing other people, but that part was quickly shut down by the larger part of her that told her it was necessary and all part of what needed to be done.

Blake checked her kills, making sure none of the soldiers survived or called in their encounter over radio or scroll. Satisfied that she had eliminated them unnoticed, Blake quickly but covertly made her way towards the enemy forces, ready to assassinate any officers she came across.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The airship swung into a rough landing at the landing zone behind the Vytal army, the doors swinging open before the ship had come to a complete stop. Weiss hopped out of the ship, with the three officers and the councilor disembarking behind her. A soldier ran up to meet them, saluting with a fist to his heart. "Sir! We have a command post ready for you." He reported.

"Lord Commander Schnee will be taking command in my place, soldier." General Kosti informed him.

"Lead the way." Weiss ordered. The soldier saluted once more and led the way back to the command post at a brisk pace. Weiss observed their surroundings as they walked, taking in what she could. There wasn't much to see, as most of the soldiers were busy trying to hold the defenses.

"Lord Commander, what is Miss Belladonna doing behind enemy lines, if I may ask?" Colonel Sten asked. Songen and Kosti moved a little closer, curious as well. The wind must have been too loud for them to hear Weiss' conversation with Blake.

"She's assassinating their commanding officers, and anyone else important she finds." Weiss said simply.

The three officers stopped in their tracks, staring in disbelief at Weiss. "She's what?" General Kosti asked rhetorically. "Assassination? That's not how wars are won. Assassination is dishonorable. We can't use such tactics!"

"Why not?" Weiss asked as she kept on walking without pause. "I'm not trying to fight honorably. I'm trying to win a war." Weiss answered.

"But…" Kosti started again before stopping, at a loss for a response.

"If we were dueling Vacuo, sure. Fight as honorably as you want. But we're fighting a war, and I will do anything and everything it takes to protect my home." Weiss continued. "I will assassinate their officers. I will poison their food. I will sabotage their supplies. I will play dirty tricks. If it's in my power, I will do it." She finished determinedly.

The other officers looked at each other, a mix of emotions on their faces. General Kosti's face held a hint of fear and horror at seeing war become something so different than what he thought it was. Colonel Sten was surprised, if anything, but willing to accept this change of tactics. Lieutenant General Songen just looked sad that someone who was so young was forced into a situation where they had to be so ruthless. And Councilor Crane only smiled in satisfaction with the knowledge that maybe Weiss was someone who could bring their people back from the brink of defeat.

The fast pace set by Weiss got them to the command post quickly. It turned out that the 'command post' was now where the communications tent was when they had contacted Captain Koma from the airship. The captain was still sitting at a small table, relaying information given to him from Major Swift to the other soldiers in the tent as they attempted to coordinate their army.

General Kosti stepped forward ahead of Weiss as they entered. "New orders!" He shouted authoritatively. "Lord Commander Schnee will be taking command. Where is Major Swift?"

"He's on the front lines, sir." Captain Koma answered. "He thought it would be good if the soldiers could see their commanding officer alongside them."

"Fool." Weiss muttered under her breath, quiet enough that no one heard her. Commanders were not meant to be on the front lines. They needed to be far enough back to see the big picture. If the soldiers needed inspiration, they could look to their superior officers on the field. Weiss remembered Tamamo telling her that the leader of an army didn't have to be liked, just obeyed, but that the seconds-in-command should be the ones to inspire and lead on the field. "We're changing how we're operating." Weiss announced to the tent. "Move your tables so you're all in a half circle in front of me." She waved her hand in front of her, gesturing where in the tent she wanted them to set up. "And facing me. Are each of you dedicated communication officers for specific units?" Weiss asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Captain Koma answered. "Each communication officer works specifically with one battalion of soldiers- about seven hundred soldiers each at this position."

"Good enough for now." Weiss said as the officers in the room all spun their work station tables around as fast as they could. "Report all your information to me. I need a map of the area!" Weiss said as she grabbed a small, unused table from the side of the tent and pulled it to where she was standing. One soldier handed her a device that projected a holographic, three dimensional map of the area. "A huntress should be working on disrupting the enemy formations, giving us a little time to get organized." She pointed at the map in front of her. "Send the coordinates of your battalions to this map." Weiss moved her arm so her finger was pointing at the officer farthest to her left, a young woman with blond hair tied back in a tight bun. "You, gather as much information on the enemy positions as we have and send it over. I want a battlefield picture here."

The soldiers worked extremely quickly and efficiently now that they had a commanding officer giving them specific orders, and weren't just trying to hold together a bunch of individual battalions. In less than a minute Weiss' holographic map had little symbols all over it representing the different battalions, along with what type of units made up each battalion. The enemy army's units weren't so detailed, but Weiss could work around that. The new Lord Commander looked at the same young woman she had asked to get information on the enemy. "There's a huntress somewhere on the front lines. Our soldiers are providing support, but I want to know where she is at all times. You are responsible for keeping her position on the map constantly up to date, using the data you're getting from the others." The young officer nodded and accepted her new responsibility without question.

"All right." Weiss looked at the map to begin seeing what she was working with. It didn't look good- her army was outnumbered three to one, nearly four to one. The only reason they had yet to be overrun was that they had a better defensive position on higher ground, while the Vacuoan army was trudging through thigh-deep snow on the low ground. "Here," Weiss pointed to the symbol that represented the third battalion, a unit of heavily armored soldiers that carried large shields and were trained to be defensive units. "Tell the Third Battalion to form a phalanx four lines deep, with a focus only on holding back the enemy. Leave the offensive attacks to others." The appropriate communications officer relayed the order, and she watched as the map updated a few seconds later to reflect the change in formation. "Repeat that order to all armored battalions. I want them on the front lines, purely on the defensive." The order was relayed, and the armored battalions on her map slowly shifted formation, until the front of the Vytal army was a solid wall of armored soldiers.

"And how will you fight back now, without any front line soldiers on the offensive?" Lieutenant General Songen asked curiously.

"Slowly and efficiently." Weiss answered. "Move all rifle battalions farther back up onto higher ground. Have them shoot into the enemy ranks. Do NOT shoot anywhere the huntress is currently fighting."

"How do you know Miss Valkyrie is even still alive?" Colonel Sten asked, looking at the red dot on the map that represented Nora. "You basically dropped her in the middle of an army."

"Because she would never die so easily." Weiss answered. "And because wherever that dot is, the enemy formation falls apart." She pointed to another group of battalions on the map. "I want the Seventh and Ninth Battalions to sweep down to their right flank and attack." Weiss was referring to two general combat battalions, their soldiers armed with a mixed bag of both ranged and melee weapons. Their dots on the map shifted accordingly, attacking the surprised Vacuoan soldiers.

The combination of a suddenly impenetrable wall of armor and Nora's destruction seemed to be throwing the Vacuoan army into disarray, as they weren't reacting with proper speed to the changes in formation that Weiss was implementing. Weiss continually ordered different battalions into different formations and used every strategy she could think of, exposing and exploiting any weakness she could. In an hour's time the Vacuoan army's assault wasn't just halted, but countered. The enemy was now on the defensive.

"Something's wrong with the Vacuoans." General Kosti observed. "They are taking far too long to react to your attacks, and taking far too much damage from them for as much as they outnumber us. Not that I don't think you're tactics aren't effective, of course. It just seems like a trap."

"It's not a trap. They're taking too long because they don't have anyone giving them orders." Weiss answered calmly before she continued directing the army. It was becoming easier now as the enemy losses piled up and the Vytal army pushed them back, taking fewer and fewer losses as the battle progressed.

"Why aren't they… oh." Kosti suddenly remembered that while they were directing a battle, Blake was assassinating officers and destroying their chain of command.

"They're about to break." Weiss announced as she looked at the map. Sections of the enemy forces were retreating, fleeing from Weiss' forces. And just as she predicted, suddenly the entire Vacuoan line collapsed as they lost all cohesiveness and fled individually. The room burst into cheers as they won their first real victory in the war. "We're not done yet!" Weiss yelled, quieting the cheers. "Order the armored battalions to stand down and return to base. Rifle units pursue the enemy at range and gun them down!"

The officers stared in disbelief. Attack retreating soldiers? It seemed like such an underhanded tactic. "You want them stabbing and shooting you at a later date? If they've surrendered, take them prisoner. If they are running, shoot them." Weiss growled. "Pursue them no farther than… here." Weiss marked a spot on the map. Once our soldiers reach that point, recall them. _Then_ we're done." Weiss stared back at the communications officers. "Now."

They jumped back into action, giving out the necessary orders. Weiss turned back to the three officers that had originally joined her, and the councilor. "That was amazing." Councilor Crane praised. "This is a true turning point in the war!" he shook Weiss' hand, who allowed her hand to be shook as she distractedly listened to the officers behind her for any changes she might need to be aware of. "With this, I'm sure I could start a campaign to increase military support and support for hunters."

"That's good." Weiss answered, distracted by Nora's dot. It seemed she was leading the riflemen in their pursuit of the fleeing soldiers. She turned her head back to General Kosti and the two officers at his sides. "I'm going to need your help." She began. "I have ideas on how we can make our army more efficient, especially with the addition of hunters."

"You have our full support, Lord Commander Schnee." General Kosti replied. "But maybe you should rest a bit first? You've just led your first battle, and it was one I was sure we were about to lose." He asked with some concern.

"I thank you for your concern, sir, but there's no time." Weiss replied. "There is more to be done."

He looked at the young huntress sadly. "You're right, I suppose. But there is something else we must do first." He added. "You and your comrades need a proper uniform, and we need to introduce you three to the army. It will be good for them to see who led them to victory."

Weiss sighed. "If you insist." Weiss conceded. "I need to make contact with Blake and Nora, first."

"Of course." He agreed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A couple hours later, Weiss looked down at the temporary officer's uniform she was wearing, displeased. The uniform was nice enough, with its navy blue coat and white pants. The coat had gold trim and adornments, with the new pins that represented her rank of Lord Commander pinned on her shoulders. The uniform was fine, she was just displeased at how poorly she filled it out. Admittedly the uniform was a size too large, but Weiss was mostly sure it was because she hadn't grown at all in her years at Beacon. Weiss had remained the same petite girl she had been when she entered, while her teammates and friends had each grown and matured more over the years. Even Ruby, at the time of her death, was taller than Weiss; the white haired huntress only came up to Ruby's eyes in height.

Deciding that glowering at her small body wouldn't change anything, Weiss exited the tent she had been given to change. Outside the tent she found Blake waiting for her, still wearing the jeans and t-shirt she had exited the ship in. Only now they were drenched in blood. "There you are, Blake! Are you hurt? When did you get back?" Weiss began fussing over Blake, looking for injuries.

Blake caught Weiss' hands, stopping her from getting her hands bloody and dirtying her uniform. "I'm fine, Weiss." Blake said with a smile. "And I only just got back. I had to hide for a while as the army retreated. You did quite a bit of damage to them."

Weiss smiled back at Blake. "Thanks. You seem like you did well yourself." She said, looking down at Blake's blood covered clothes.

"I got quite a few of them, yeah. They never expected someone to attack them like that." Blake said with an animalistic grin.

"Well I'm glad you had fun, but you need to get cleaned up and changed so we can get introduced to the army." Weiss told Blake, gesturing to the tent. "There are uniforms and towels in there."

"I don't really think Nora needs introducing." Blake said with a chuckle.

"Why's that?"

"Can't you hear the chanting?" Blake asked.

Weiss cocked her head to the side and listened. She heard voices that could've been chanting in the distance, but it was too faint for her to make out the words. "It's too far for me to hear." Weiss said with a shrug.

"It seems that Nora made quite the impression with her attack. She's a hero among the soldiers." Blake pointed behind her with her thumb. "They've nicknamed her 'Madhammer.' That's what they're chanting." Blake finished with a laugh.

"'Madhammer?'" Weiss asked with a confused look.

"Because she was either smiling or laughing during the whole fight, apparently." Blake shrugged. Weis just shook her head in disbelief. "I'm going to go get changed. You should probably go tell Nora to change too."

"Yeah." Weiss said in a resigned voice, but she was smiling. Leave it to Nora to accidentally build a following of thousands.

"Our victory today marks a change in the war!" General Kosti announced to the crowd of gathered soldiers, arranged in formation in front of him as he stood atop a pile of boxes with the three huntress standing behind him and to his side. Blake and Nora were each wearing the same style of uniform as Weiss, except without the pins identifying rank. And they also filled out the uniform far more impressively, Weiss hated to admit.

"Today, we can begin to push our enemy back. Today, we can retake the lands we lost to Vacuo! Today, we can show our people that we will keep them safe forevermore!" The army erupted in cheers. He held up his hand, silencing the gathered crowd. "But today would not have been possible without these three. These hunters." The crowd went silent at the word 'hunters'. "These three are the first of many who will one day lend their considerable might to the war, and today they more than earned our trust!"

He gestured to Weiss, who stepped forward to stand next to General Kosti. "The newly appointed Lord Commander, Weiss Schnee, who commanded our army in today's battle and led our army to victory!" The crowd's cheer was deafening as they finally got to see the one who finally helped them redeem their honor and achieve victory. Weiss raised her hand to wave at the crowd with a small, cordial smile. General Kosti leaned in to whisper in Weiss' ear. "What rank should I refer to your comrades by?"

Weiss turned her head to whisper her answer in his ear. "I'm making them Majors, for now."

He nodded as he straightened up. "And here we have the huntress who turned the enemy into a disorganized mob of fools!" The crowd laughed. "Major Blake Belladonna!" Blake stepped up next to Weiss, also waving her hand at the crowd as Weiss had. The crowd cheered for Blake just as hard as they had for Weiss, the loud noise causing the ears on top of Blake's head to twitch a couple times in response.

"And finally, we have the huntress who smashed apart our enemy on the front lines, Major Nora Valkyrie!" Nora stepped forward, waving reservedly without a smile at the soldiers arrayed in front of her. The crowd broke into their loudest cheer yet, shaking the ground beneath them. Within seconds they began chanting 'Madhammer' again, pumping their fists in time with their chant.

General Kosti held up his hand for silence once more. "We all welcome our new friends and allies, and I'm sure you're eager to get to know them. But for now, rest! We have a war to win! Dismissed!" he finished with a salute. The crowd saluted with fists to hearts as they dissipated and left the assembly. General Kosti turned to the three huntresses at his side. "I'm spry for putting you through such an overly extravagant ceremony, but our soldiers needed this."

"We understand." Weiss assured him. "But if you don't mind, I'd like to start reviewing all the information I can."

"What kind of information would you like?"

"Everything. Logistics, supply routes, maps, information on Vacuo. I want everything." Weiss answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

General Kosti just blinked in surprise. "Uh, sure. I'll have everything sent to your tent."

"Thank you. Is there anything else you wish to discuss?" Weiss asked.

"Not today, no. I'm sure something will come up at some point, though. Such is life." He said, shaking each girls' hand. "Best of luck with your work, make sure you get some rest!" He then walked off towards his own tent, waving as he left.

"I'll help you out." Blake suggested. "Nora too." Nora just nodded.

"Thanks. I have some ideas for what we can do." Weiss answered as they left for their tent. They walked in silence for a few minutes before Weiss spoke up again. "So… 'Madhammer', huh?"

Nora winced, clearly not a fan of the nickname. "Don't even get me started."


	15. Reinforcements

The battle yesterday had been exciting and stimulating for Nora, but also tiring. Her minor wounds had been treated, her clothes were being washed, and she had cleaned herself with a bucket of water and a washcloth. As it turned out, a military camp didn't have showers or baths. Being clean was important though; a dirty army could easily change into a sick army, and a sick army could very quickly change into a dead one. Water, towels, and soap were supplied, even if they were rationed, and each of the squad-sized tents had a small area set aside using a curtain for a small bit of privacy. A soldier could always search for a more private location if they wished, and most squad members were willing to step out of a tent for a few minutes to allow their fellow soldiers to clean if they so requested.

Huntresses like Nora were afforded a luxury in that she had a tent all to herself. While not as large as the squad sized tent, it was definitely larger than the smaller personal tents. There was enough room to stand up straight and even pace around if needed. The biggest surprise was the storage crate that was provided to Nora. About as large as a small nightstand, it had room to store nearly all of the things Nora now considered her belongings- Her new military dress uniform, some spare leisure clothes, some basic cosmetic and hygienic supplies. It even had a fairly large rectangular mirror under the inside of the lid for when she needed to take a look at herself.

This morning, Nora was cleaning herself using her washcloth while humming a soft lullaby. She stood naked in the corner of her tent as she wiped the last remnants of soap suds off of her body, letting them fall onto the dirt beneath her feet. She preferred to wash in the corner so that the excess water and soap wouldn't drip onto the center of her tent and get in the way. Nora toweled herself dry once she finished, and strolled over to her storage container and opened it to grab her clothes.

Nora's eyes widened in surprise and confusion as she saw herself in the mirror. Her reflection was… wrong, somehow. Something about it just didn't quite sit right with Nora. She straightened up and opened the lid completely, allowing herself to look down at her reflection and inspect it more closely. Nora looked back down at her own body, then back at the reflection. Now that she looked a little closer, the difference was very obvious, just not something she paid close attention to. Her reflection didn't have any of the scars that her body had accumulated over the last few years. "No scars?" she asked curiously to her reflection.

Her reflection shook her head 'no.' Nora's eyes widened even further as she took a cautious step backwards. Her reflection did not mirror her actions. "Surprised?" Nora's reflection asked.

Nora stared at her own reflection, which had smiled at her and crossed her arms over her bare chest. "I can't think of another word other than surprised. Baffled or confused, maybe." Nora answered flatly.

Her reflection laughed out loud. "It's understandable. It isn't everyday that you begin talking to yourself." Her reflection pulled up a foldout chair from inside the mirror and sat down in it. Nora looked to her side, almost expecting her own foldout chair to have moved in relation to the one in the reflection. It hadn't.

"That's true." Nora decided that until she could figure out what was going on, she would continue her morning routine. She took a few steps back towards her storage and grabbed her new military dress uniform and some simple underclothes and began dressing. Her reflection patiently waited and watched, crossing her legs as she chose to remain in the nude. "Do you have to stare?" Nora asked nonchalantly as she pulled on her underwear, more to make conversation than from any sort of discomfort.

"Does it matter? We both enjoy our body." Her reflection reasoned.

"It doesn't matter, I guess." Nora replied, pulling up her pants. "So, what are you?"

"Give it a good bit of thought and I'm sure you'll figure it out." The reflection said with a chuckle. The reflection stood up and began dancing around the tent inside the reflection while Nora continued dressing and thinking.

Nora could confidently say that while she may not have the intelligence that Weiss had, she was also no fool. She thought about what this turn of events could mean, what this reflection was. The conclusion came to her slowly, but the more she thought about it the more sure she was of her answer. "I'm going insane." Nora said.

The reflection of Nora stopped its dancing and returned to the mirror, a wide smile plastered across her face. "Yup yup! Mad as a cow." She cheered. "I think it took you long enough to notice."

"Am I still insane if I know I'm insane?" Nora asked as she pulled her own fold out chair in front of her mirror and her reflection.

"Most definitely." Her reflection answered.

"And when did I go insane then?" Nora asked as she dropped down onto her seat.

"You know when it happened." The other Nora responded.

Nora did know, of course. When her fiancé died to protect her, when her precious Ren had sacrificed his own life to save hers. But even that wasn't enough to break Nora. Ruby had done that. Ruby had given Nora that tiny push, had taken Nora that one final step over the edge. Killing CRDL, as good as it had felt and has justified as it was, wasn't something a sane person did. The subsequent isolation her training had put her through certainly didn't help either. "Why now, then?" Nora asked. "Why not at the fortress or the camp? Why wait so long?"

"It's a slow process, going insane. A slow, painful process. Very different from being insane. Being insane is a very distinct and refreshing experience. But knowing you're insane… is liberating. A true taste of freedom." The reflections voice had dropped to a low, husky whisper.

"Liberating, huh?" Nora asked as she picked up a hair brush from her belongings. "How's that work?"

The reflection gestured grandly. "No conscience to hold you back, no rationality to make you question your heart. You are free to do as you please for as long as you please."

"And what I want to do is get revenge. Which I am doing now. I don't need you to 'liberate' me." Nora countered, brushing her hair.

"But it's going so slowly, isn't it?" Her reflection leaned closer to the mirror. "You could leave now. Take the fight to them on your own, guerilla style. This army is only holding you back."

Nora stopped to consider her point. Her reflection and her madness were starting to make sense to Nora. She certainly could spend more time exacting her revenge if she didn't have to wait with the army. "But there's only so much I could do on my own."

The reflection narrowed its eyes and glared at Nora. "You can get stronger. Fighting on your own will make you even more powerful, and their army will not be able to stop you."

"No." Nora said, determination lacing her voice. She stood up quickly, back straight and shoulders back. "I fight with my fellow hunters, my fellow soldiers. Together, we will win this war. Together, we are stronger than when we are alone."

"You will be weaker!" Her reflection shrieked. "Too weak to take the revenge you want!"

"I don't need to be stronger on my own." Nora said quietly. "And I am strong- I have a strong body. And my will is just as strong. 'Win this war.' That is what I want. And nothing, not even me, will deter me from that path." Nora turned to walk away from her fuming reflection.

"This is why he died!" the reflection yelled, tears streaming down its face. "You trusted your teammates to protect us and Ren! And look where that got us! You failed, Nora! You live while he died, all alone in the world. Your team has abandoned you to cling to each other!" It pounded its hand on the mirror in anger. "We broke and they go on like it never happened! We don't even have his body for closure, for a proper funeral! You deserve all this pain for failing to protect him!"

This latest rant was the last straw for Nora, and she turned around, furious at the angry, crying reflection. She stepped back, cocking her fist to smash the mirror into pieces. Right before she threw the punch though, she felt a hand gently grab her wrist, and heard a voice behind her. "Nora!" Nora immediately relaxed her arm and spun, recognizing the voice immediately.

"Ren?" She asked. There was no one behind her though, and no more voice. "Ren?" she asked again. But there was no response. She turned to look back at the mirror, and only saw herself looking back at her. Her real reflection and not the doppelganger. With a quiet sigh, Nora straightened her uniform and then left her tent to go see what she needed to do this early morning.

 

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Pyrrha was looking out the window of the airship, watching the snowy landscape below her zoom by in a blur. "Everything okay?" Jaune asked from her left. The couple was on an airship heading towards the front lines, where they would join the military in their fight against Vacuo. Also on the airship with the couple were Velvet and a few others who had graduated from Tamamo's training.

She looked over at the young man sitting next to her. "Yeah. Just a little anxious and excited." Pyrrha answered with a smile, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Me too." Jaune said. He looked across the aisle at Velvet, whose head was lolled over to the side as she napped in her seat. "I'm surprised Velvet could sleep, with how excited she was to see Blake again."

"Right?" Pyrrha agreed. "She was so excited, and now she's asleep." She giggled. "She probably tired herself out with her excitement."

"Well, we'll be there pretty quick." Jaune said as he draped an arm across Pyrrha's shoulder. "We should really talk to Nora when we get there." He continued, his voice adopting a more serious tone.

"But she obviously doesn't want to speak to us." Pyrrha said worriedly. "Or anyone, really. You can't help someone who doesn't want your help, Jaune."

"I know, but… even if she's not our teammate, even if she doesn't want our help, she's still our friend." Jaune answered. "We have to try harder to help her."

"Okay." Pyrrha agreed as she snuggled into Jaune's shoulder, making sure to avoid knocking herself of his armor. "We'll talk to her when we get a chance." Pyrrha wasn't confident that speaking to Nora would do any good, but was willing to do so if Jaune wanted to.

Jaune rested his chin on Pyrrha's head and looked out the window on the other side of her. "Is that the army?" He asked, spying a sprawl of tents and people in the snow.

Pyrrha sat up and peered out the window. "Looks like it." She squinted. "Still too far to make out any details though." Pyrrha leaned forward in her seat and reached out, gently shaking Velvet's knee. "Velvet, we're almost there."

Velvet immediately straightened her head and opened her eyes, suddenly wide awake. "We're here?" She asked excitedly, looking around.

"Not yet." Pyrrha chuckled. "Almost."

"Oh." Velvet slumped back into her chair. "Thanks for waking me up. Sorry I didn't stay up to keep you company." She continued meekly.

"No worries." Jaune assured her. "We spent most of the time staring out the window anyways." He added with a smile.

Velvet smiled in thanks before she turned to look out the window towards the encampment. "It looks like they had a battle here recently." She said in surprise, her eyes widening and her ears straightening.

"A battle?" Pyrrha asked nervously. The muffled voices of some of the others who had heard Velvet also sounded surprised, and there was a brief shuffling as their fellow passengers moved to look out the windows.

"Yeah. There are some craters and scorched areas that haven't had time to fill in with snow yet. So in the last day or two, I think." Velvet observed.

The occupants of the airship looked around at each other nervously. Were they walking into a losing battle? Would they have to retreat soon? Jaune, Pyrrha, and Velvet were worried about something else entirely though, because they knew that their friends had been sent away from the fortress a week before they had. Had their friends been a part of that battle? Had they survived the battle? Their trip was all the more nerve wracking as they approached the landing pads. "There's Blake!" Velvet said, jumping up from her seat as she looked out the window, a big smile of relief plastered across her face.

Jaune and Pyrrha also peered out the window as their ship descended towards the landing zone. Velvet was indeed correct in her observation; Blake had strolled out to meet the airship and was waiting at the edge of the landing pad, her hair billowing behind her in the wind and her cat ears twitching at the turbulence generated by the landing ship.

"Wow, check out that uniform." They heard one of their fellow hunters say from behind them. Jaune, Pyrrha and Velvet were also looking at Blake's uniform, which she filled out extremely well, showcasing her powerful, lithe build while not diminishing all of her feminine charms. Blake was wearing a clean pressed officer's uniform, with a navy blue top and white slacks, and gold trim. It was a look that they definitely weren't used to seeing, but a look that worked nonetheless. Blake saw them peering out the window and waved.

Only a short minute later the ship had landed, its doors unlocking and disengaging. Velvet was the first one out of the ship, leaping out and dashing towards Blake. "Blake!" Velvet cried out, coming to a stop before Blake. She had meant to give Blake a hug, but realized that there were a lot of soldiers staring and that maybe this might not be the best time. "It's good to see you again." She said, holding her intertwined hands in front of her.

Blake smiled. "It's good to see you too, Velvet." She replied, squeezing Velvet's shoulder gently. Blake looked Velvet up and down with curiosity. "Where'd you get that outfit?" She asked.

Velvet looked down at her outfit. She was wearing a skintight black body suit that covered her from neck to wrist to ankles, with earthy brown leather armor fitted over it to cover the more important and practical areas of her body. Her torso, forearms, thighs, and shins were covered by larger pieces of reinforced leather while smaller and thinner pieces strapped them on securely. "Does it look bad? Tamamo had Kani make it for me." Velvet asked nervously, blushing and fidgeting in place. She was still slightly embarrassed to be wearing something that was so tight fitting, but it was so comfortable that she occasionally forgot how it looked.

"It looks great." Blake assured her. At this point Jaune and Pyrrha had finally joined Velvet, their few fellow hunters behind them as well. "Hello, everyone." Blake greeted. "I'm Major Belladonna, and I'll be taking you on a quick tour before we meet up with Lord Commander Schnee." Some whispers broke out at hearing Weiss' rank. "Follow me!" Blake turned and started walking away, the others having to jog a few steps to catch up once they got over their initial surprise.

Velvet sped up so she could walk next to Blake on her left, and Jaune and Pyrrha also joined her on Blake's opposite side. "Hey, you two. Nice to see you again too." Blake said as the couple came up beside her.

"Hey, Blake." Jaune greeted, Pyrrha following suit. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Blake answered simply.

"Was there a battle here recently?" Pyrrha asked. "Velvet said it look like there was."

"Yeah, yesterday." Blake answered. She briefly stopped their conversation to point out different areas of the camp to her little group. Once they started walking again she continued her conversation. "It was rough. They were definitely losing until we arrived."

"Didn't you leave a week ago?" Jaune interjected.

"We met with Professor Ozpin first." Blake explained. "And then met with the Vytal Council to convince them to allow hunters to join the war. It's a long story. The short version is that we didn't get here until yesterday morning, in the middle of a battle."

"You guys aren't hurt, are you?" Velvet asked worriedly.

"We're fine, thanks." Blake said with a smile. "Weiss took control of the soldiers and redirected the battle and led us to victory."

"Wow!" Velvet whispered in awe, the others also voicing similar sentiments. "Did you and Nora lead too?" The other hunters had moved closer to better hear the conversation.

"Not quite. I was alone most of the fight." Blake answered. "Nora's a hero, though. She rallied the troops on the front lines."

"Why were you alone?" A voice from the back asked.

"I was behind enemy lines, assassinating officers." Blake answered nonchalantly. The others slowed their pace and put some distance between them and the cat faunus, suddenly a little more wary than they had been moments earlier.

"That sounds… terrible." Velvet said softly.

"It wasn't so bad. Most of them never knew that I was there." Blake said with a shrug.

"No, I meant… never mind." Velvet didn't want to tell Blake that she was concerned for her mental health, not physical at the moment. The tour continued, with Blake pointing out the essential facilities and locations to the newcomers before leading them to the command tent. Their little tour attracted a lot of attention from the regular soldiers, who were curious to see these new hunters after seeing how powerful and effective just three of them were in the previous battle. Pyrrha especially was attracting a lot of attention, with many of the soldiers recognizing her from the Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes cereal.

"Lord Commander Schnee is waiting for you in here." Blake gestured to the tent they had stopped in front of. "She'll be bringing you up to speed and assign you ranks and roles. Good luck." Blake waited for them to file in past her before she turned and left them behind, returning to her own tent while she waited for further orders from Weiss. She was still sleepy and wanted a nap, because she and Nora had spent a large chunk of the previous night reviewing the necessary information with Weiss, tossing around ideas. General Kosti had joined them for a short period of time, but decided to leave them to their own devices because he couldn't keep up with Weiss. Finding her personal tent, Blake curled up on her cot with her scarf and quickly slipped into sleep.

 

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A couple hours later, Weiss had just finished assigning the new hunters to their roles and ranks. The ranks were all over the place, as she assigned each hunter a rank that would synergize well with the roles she had given them. She based her decisions on assessments that Tamamo had sent along with them, but Weiss would change their roles as necessary once she saw how they performed in the field. Jaune, Pyrrha, Velvet, and five other hunters were in this group of much needed reinforcements.

"Weiss, I'm glad you're okay." Pyrrha said as she approached after Weiss had dismissed the hunters.

"Thanks, but why wouldn't I be?" Weiss asked as she shuffled around some paperwork. She was slightly irate because she had gotten little sleep, and her new fitted uniform still hadn't come in so she was also wearing the slightly loose uniform that emphasized her slim, petite frame in a way she found unflattering.

"We heard there was a battle here yesterday. I was worried that one of you might've gotten hurt." Pyrrha explained slowly, slightly thrown off by Weiss' tone.

"No, I'm fine." Weiss assured her. Weiss stopped looking through her paperwork and stood up straight to look at the trio in front of her. "Sorry, I'm just tired. We were up late drawing up new plans."

"Plans for what?" Jaune asked as he stopped examining the officers' pins that Weiss had given them. Both Jaune and Pyrrha had been made Major Generals by Weiss, much to their surprise. Weiss had explained that she needed field generals to carry out her orders, and they worked extremely well together, in addition to their training under Denarii Latium.

"Our offensive against Vacuo." She stated to her surprised three person audience. "We can't win a war by sitting back on the defensive."

"You're right, of course." Pyrrha agreed. Weiss looked over her shoulder. "You don't have to wait for us, Velvet." Pyrrha said with a small smile. "You can go find Blake."

"Oh, thanks." Velvet said quietly with a quick bow. "Bye, Weiss!" Velvet walked quickly out of the tent to begin her search for her friend.

"When do you plan on moving out then?" Pyrrha continued.

"Tomorrow." Weiss answered bluntly. "I need to take these orders to General Kosti, come with me. This will be a good time for you to meet him." Weiss began walking out of the tent quickly.

"Wait, tomorrow?" Jaune asked as he and Pyrrha took a few quick steps to catch up to Weiss. "So soon?"

"No point in waiting." Weiss answered. "Once he approves these orders, we can begin our true offensive." Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other in surprise, not expecting events to move so quickly after they arrived.

One they arrived at the tent General Kosti was using, Weiss announced herself and stepped inside. General Kosti stood up to meet them, introducing himself to Jaune and Pyrrha. "Mister Arc, Miss Nikos. Pleasure to meet you." He greeted them with a smile, shaking their hands. "Did you know the Lord Commander previously?"

"Yes, we're good friends, sir." Pyrrha answered formally.

"Excellent, excellent." He turned to Weiss. "Have you already spoken to the new hunters about their ranks then?"

"It's all been handled, General." Weiss assured. "Major General Arc and Major General Nikos will be my field generals."

"I see." Kosti examined the duo more closely. "And you still plan on implementing your… methodology regarding leading the men?"

"Yes, of course. Pyrrha and Jaune both are charismatic and powerful. They will be loved and admired by the soldiers in the field, especially as they fight alongside them. I do not need the soldiers to love and admire me; I just need them to follow orders so our plans work. Which these two can make happen." Weiss explained.

"I suppose your method has merit, even if I disagree." Kosti sighed. "What are these?" he asked as he accepted the papers Weiss handed him.

"The new orders I want to have sent out as soon as possible." Weiss explained.

Kosti began glancing over the brief summaries at the top of each page of orders. "You want to deploy so soon?" He asked. Weiss nodded. "I agree, actually. No point in sitting around uselessly." He continued reading. He held up a set of orders a few pages in. "This we will need to discuss. I know your views on the matter, but I am still uncomfortable with this assassination you use."

"It's effective, and it isn't like we have very many other options in this war." Weiss reasoned. "They outnumber us with soldiers by a huge margin, and if the information you gave me yesterday is any indication then the Vacuoan factories are also pumping out war machines and robots faster than we are too. Having hunters in our army isn't going to help much if they have so much firepower at their disposal that we get crushed immediately. If we can conduct operations that disrupt that, then we have a much better chance at survival. It's not just assassinations in that set of orders- it authorizes the formation of specialist operatives who infiltrate to gather information and spread misinformation, among other things."

"I agree with Weiss on that." Pyrrha added. "There's a time and a place for honorable combat and this isn't it."

"Fine, fine." Kosti conceded. "I'll get to authorizing all these. I'll send the confirmations to your scroll as they go through." He assured.  
"Thank you, General." Weiss said before turning on her heel and leaving the tent.

Jaune and Pyrrha scampered after her. "Are you really that highly ranked?" Jaune asked. "I've never heard of a 'Lord Commander' before."

"It's a new rank that was made specifically for the hunters." Weiss answered. "I'm equal in rank to General Kosti, but it's easier to get orders sent through him than do it myself because there are still people who are hesitant about letting hunters into the military."

"Whoa." Jaune exclaimed. "Nice. Any orders for us then, Lord Commander?"

"I'll send you specifics later. For now, why don't you get situated in your tent and see what you can do about introducing yourselves to the soldiers and getting to know them. The sooner they meet their new field commanders, the sooner they'll get comfortable with you."

"All right." Pyrrha agreed. "We'll get started on that." Pyrrha and Jaune left with a wave.

Weiss let out a deep breath as she stood in place. 'Keep your distance from everyone else.' She had told herself. 'The closer you are to them, the harder it will be to use them as needed.' It was a painful decision, but she would do what needed to be done.

 

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Velvet poked her head into the tent labeled 'Major Belladonna' to see if Blake was inside or elsewhere in the camp. She was delighted to find that Blake was indeed inside, even if she was curled up in her small cot and sleeping. Velvet crept closer, deciding that she would sit in the chair next to Blake's cot until she woke up.

Velvet grabbed the chair and moved it slightly, which caused the chair to make a slight creaking noise. Velvet wasn't sure what happened next, but she thought she saw a whirlwind of movement that appeared on Blake's cot. The next thing Velvet knew, she was lying on her back as Blake pinned her to the ground, pressing Gambol Shroud against Velvet's throat. Blake's eyes were wild and unfocused as she stared at Velvet, who was lying helpless under her. "…Blake?" Velvet whimpered.

Blake blinked her eyes a few times, refocusing them and looking at her captive. "Velvet?" Blake looked down at Gambol Shroud. "Ah! I'm sorry!" Blake pulled her blade away from Velvet and pulled the rabbit faunus up into a hug. "I'm so sorry. I was asleep, and got startled when I heard the chair move."

"It's okay, I should've said something." Velvet tried to reassure Blake.

"Oh no, I need a bandage or something." Blake said worriedly, pulling open a storage chest nearby and rummaging through it.

"Why?" Velvet asked.

"Your neck!" Blake said tensely.

Velvet reached up to her neck where the katana was pressing, and felt around. When she removed her hand, her fingers had a light layer of blood flowing down them. "Oh, this isn't that bad." Velvet said, relieved that the wound wasn't serious. "Here, let me get a look." Velvet said. She moved up next to Blake and used the mirror on the underside of the lid to look at her neck. "Yeah, that's an easy fix. Watch this." Velvet's hand began to glow lightly, and she traced her finger over the shallow cut on her neck. Where her finger touched, the skin and tissue stitched itself back together quickly, leaving unscarred skin behind. The only indication that there was ever a wound was a faint line of new skin that was a few shades lighter than the rest of her skin.

"That's… new." Blake commented as she touched Velvet's neck. "Where did you learn to do that?" Blake held out some gauze so Velvet could wipe away the blood on her neck.

"Tamamo and Vimentis taught me." Velvet answered. "Tamamo said I have a talent for healing."

"I can't disagree." Blake said, still wide eyed at Velvet's new skill.


	16. Passions

"Blake, you need to be more careful." Velvet scolded as she massaged Blake's shoulders over a cloth that had been soaked in hot water. "You'll get sick if you keep this up." It had been a week since Weiss has ordered the army to begin their march. This evening the two faunus were inside of Blake's tent, relaxing after a long day of duties. Blake lay on her stomach while Velvet straddled her hips after volunteering to massage Blake's tense and sore muscles, which Blake graciously accepted.

"Don't worry, Velvet. I'll be fine." Blake replied in patient monotone. This was the third time in the last week that Velvet had given her the same short lecture. Velvet's concern was a product of Blake's scouting duties. Blake often volunteered for forward scouting because her speed, endurance, and stealth talents gave Blake an edge in when it came to scouting ahead of the marching army. Her tracking abilities and preternatural senses as a faunus were also a massive benefit.

Being a forward scout hadn't proved dangerous so far. The Vacuoan army had retreated to more than a week's march back to their own defensive lines, so all that any scouts had to worry about for the last week were the weather and terrain. "It's only a little bit of snow." Blake sighed as Velvet massaged her lower back. "Ah, that feels good." Blake moaned.

"You're really tense here." Velvet mumbled as she pressed harder into the knot of muscle in Blake's lower back. As she felt the muscle loosen under her fingers, Velvet continued both her lecture and ministrations. "And it's not just 'a little bit of snow,' Blake. The snow is three feet deep. Our army is barely covering any ground."

"And I can walk on top of the snow without leaving footprints. The snow isn't a prob-oooh." Blake's argument was cut short as Velvet found a particularly sensitive spot.

"Just be a little more careful, okay? At least dress warmer or something. You're ice cold whenever you get back." Velvet asked. "And I'm in charge of the field medical forces, so I can tell Weiss to make you stay back with the rest of us if I have to." She finished firmly.

Blake didn't respond as she enjoyed the massage in silence for a few more moments. "Okay, Captain Velvet. I'll dress warmer." She conceded with a resigned sigh.

"Promise?" Velvet asked hopefully.

"I promise." Blake answered apologetically.

"Good." Velvet said with a smile. She bent over and lay down on Blake's back, nuzzling against Blake's bare shoulder. "Sorry to be such a worry wart."

Blake turned over while she was under Velvet so that she could embrace her friend. Velvet was now nuzzling up against Blake's bare chest, her ears tickling Blake's chin. "Don't worry about it." Blake opened her mouth and playfully nipped Velvet's ear with her teeth.

Velvet squealed and wriggled in Blake's grasp in an attempt to escape from the sudden stimulation. Blake stopped her teasing, mostly because she was giggling too hard to keep on going with it. "Blake!" Velvet gasped. "Don't surprise me like that." Velvet was complaining, but she was smiling too. She looked up into Blake's amber eyes, which looked like they were glowing in the low light of the tent. Velvet decided to take a risk. She crawled the short distance up Blake's body, stopping with her face only inches away from Blake's.

While her face was hovering over Blake's, Velvet's fingers brushed softly against Blake's skin. Velvet had always loved the feel of Blake. To Velvet, Blake's skin was soft as silk and smooth as still water, shining and beautiful in the low light. Deceptively hidden underneath the soft skin was toned muscle as hard and unyielding as stone, tensing and relaxing as Blake moved her body.

Blake's hands were not sitting idle either as they tracing the natural lines of Velvet's body underneath her shirt. Velvet shifted nervously as he felt Blake's touch, unsure of whether the scars that now covered a significant portion of her body would affect Blake's view of it. Velvet quickly learned her fears were unfounded as Blake's hands moved along and over the scars as much as the rest of her, paying no attention to where her normal, soft skin ended and the thicker scar tissue began. Grateful for Blake's undiscriminating and tender touch, Velvet ceased her soft treatment of Blake's bare skin and locked her gaze onto her friends, an unspoken question in her eyes.

Blake was tense and hesitant. But seeing the need in Velvet's eyes, she decided that she could let herself go, at least for this evening, and nodded her consent. Velvet slowly leaned in, closed her eyes, and gently but firmly pressed her lips against Blake's. Blake returned the kiss, parting her lips slightly to allow Velvet's tongue access to the inside of her mouth. Velvet's long, flowing hair fell down around both their heads, creating a curtain of hair that framed them as their lips locked together. Blake shifted her weight and sat up; Velvet sat up on her knees and continued straddling Blake while they continued their kiss in an upright position. Blake's hands lifted Velvet's shirt while she lifted her arms above her head, only breaking the kiss as briefly as she could. Throwing the shirt off to the side while Velvet unzipped and removed her own sports bra, Blake removed herself from under Velvet.

As soon as Velvet finished removing her bra, Blake gently pushed her onto her back. Velvet allowed herself to fall backwards onto the bed behind her as she let her arms fall out to the side, perfectly at ease with being topless under Blake. Rather than continue the kiss though, Blake strayed farther down and undid the knot Velvet used to tie on her sweats before pulling them down and off of her toned and muscled legs. Velvet's legs closed out of reflexive embarrassment, but Blake knew how to get Velvet to relax. Opening her mouth just enough to expose her teeth, Blake began gently but firmly nibble on Velvet's legs, starting at her ankles and slowly working her way up while occasionally switching her attention from one leg to the other. Blake was careful not to use her canines; while Yang may have enjoyed the rougher feeling of the sharp teeth breaking skin, Velvet preferred a softer approach. Velvet's legs were relaxed in short order, easily being moved where Blake wanted them, allowing Blake to remove Velvet's underwear with ease.

Velvet hardly seemed to notice as her final article of clothing was dropped off the small bed. Her heavy breathing and quiet moans of pleasure continued unabated as Blake continued nibbling her way up Velvet's body, agonizingly avoiding the areas of Velvet's body that wanted Blake's attentions the most. "Blake." She managed to get out breathily. "Please, can-" she was abruptly cut off as Blake suddenly bit down on her right breast with her teeth, causing Velvet's voice to squeak in a delighted mix of pleasure and pain. "Blake." She begged. Blake smiled as she sensually looked up into Velvet's eyes before obliging her request and moving back down Velvet's body. The last things Velvet saw were the cat ears top of Blake's head twitching before waves of pleasure spread through Velvet's body, forcing out a gasp while she lustfully closed her eyes and she gave in to Blake's affections.

 

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Weiss face planted on the small portable table in front of her. "Ugh." She groaned in disgust. She had known that her high ranking position of leadership would entail some measure of paperwork, but she hadn't thought that it would be mountains of the stuff. Weiss was even doing paperwork in their transport vehicles as they marched each day. She was seeing paperwork in her sleep. Weiss was starting to get to the point where she wished they could just have a battle just to break the monotony of the paperwork. Then she felt bad because that would mean people would be dying. "Ugh." She groaned again, forehead still pressed against the desk.

"You sound like you're having a grand old time." A voice said from Weiss' left. Weiss rolled her head on the desk so she could see the speaker, General Kosti.

"Good evening, General." Weiss greeted, moving to stand up.

Kosti waved Weiss down. "Sit, sit. I know you're tired. I see you've discovered the wonderful thing known as 'unending paperwork' that we have to deal with." He chuckled.

"It really doesn't end?" Weiss groaned and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Not for the last forty years, at any rate." He answered with a shrug.

"Damn it. How do you deal with all of it?" Weis asked. "Is there a trick to it?"

"I just delegate it to other people, to be honest. I only read the summaries of most of the papers to make sure nothing's wrong." He answered. "I only read the important stuff in detail."

"You could've mentioned this earlier in the week, you know." Weiss grumbled.

"Call it my own little form of hazing." He said with a grin. "I'll give you names of the appropriate officers to delegate to. You'll have to make your own decisions on what's important enough to read, but that's about it."

"Much appreciated." Weiss sighed in relief. "So, did you need something, General? I haven't seen you in a while."

"I do, actually." He answered. "I got a call from Tamamo. She said that after the next group of hunters she's sending that they may come in a little slower."

"Slower? Did she say if something is going wrong with the training?" Weiss asked as she sat up, curious.

"She didn't give me any details, just the message." Kosti answered. "I wouldn't know much about hunter training anyways.

"I'll contact her then and find out what's going on." Weiss pulled out her scroll and typed in the contact information for the fortress. General Kosti stepped up behind Weiss to look over her shoulder while the communications room alerted Tamamo of the incoming call.

After a couple minutes, the video feed popped up with Tamamo's face. "Hello!" Tamamo sang. "Oh, Weiss! It's good to see you again. How's war?"

"So far it's been one battle and a lot of paperwork." Weiss complained.

"One of the worst things about leadership, I agree." Tamamo laughed. "Is that old Kosti behind you? Hello there!" Tamamo waved at the General over Weiss' shoulder.

"Hello, Tamamo." The General answered with a lazy wave. "Though you aren't really in any position to call me old."

"I guess not." Tamamo conceded. "Well then, to what do I owe the pleasure, Weiss?"

"I was calling about your message to General Kosti. You mentioned some issue with training hunters?" Weiss responded.

"It's not a huge delay; it's just an issue of practical training." Tamamo answered. "There are very few Grimm left around the fortress, so we've had to look for alternative methods for hands-on training. Less Grimm to fight means more one on one time with instructors is needed, so the training period has to be extended a bit."

"…There aren't enough Grimm?" Weiss asked in disbelief. "That honestly sounds like a good problem to have."

"It figures that the only time you want Grimm to be around is when they are actually gone." Tamamo joked. "The only Grimm we've seen in the last two weeks is one lone Ursa."

Weiss' eyes opened in surprise. "Only one in two weeks?" That was unheard of in the fortress, so far out in the wilderness. "Vimentis hasn't sensed anything either?"

"Nothing that's close enough for training. There are fewer and fewer Grimm every week now. I suspect your hammer-y friend killed too many of them for them to recover." Tamamo shrugged.

"So the only issue you see coming up is that it will take a little longer to train any new recruits?" Weiss asked to confirm.

"Yeah, that was it. Once Ozzy sends more graduates my way then I can begin training up more at once with an updated training regimen to account for the lack of Grimm. You'll be getting new hunters at a normal pace again soon." Tamamo assured her.

"Oh, all right. Thanks for letting me know, Tamamo." Weiss said with a nod.

"Not a problem. Don't be a stranger, Weiss! Same goes for you, Kosti. Bye bye!" Tamamo blew a kiss with a wink and waved before cutting off the transmission.

"Dealing with Tamamo is always interesting, even if it's just a conversation." Kosti observed wryly.

"Indeed." Weiss agreed. "If I may ask, do you know how old Tamamo is? It sounded like you two have known each other for a long time."

"We have known each other for a very long time, yes. But I do not actually know how old she is. Older than me, that's for sure." He answered, scratching his balding head.

"Older than you?" Weiss couldn't believe someone as young looking as Tamamo was older than Kosti, who looked to be the very definition of 'old man.'

"It's a mystery to me. I thought all hunters were like that." He shrugged.

"No, we definitely are not." Weiss answered, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

 

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Nora was pacing back and forth angrily in the clearing set aside for training. No one else was on the training grounds, either because they thought it was too late in the evening to train or because they feared inciting Nora's wrath. A few soldiers had approached Nora when she had first arrived, but each had turned away once they saw the poorly concealed fury on Nora's face. While any outsider may have seen Nora pacing alone, Nora herself did not see herself as alone. "I told you something like this would happen! We should have left like I said." Her 'reflection' was no longer confined to her mirror after this week's march, and now it was sitting on the ground nearby. It wearing clothes this time, matching Nora's outfit of dark blue sweats and a matching tank top.

"Weiss will have a perfectly good explanation tomorrow morning." Nora grumbled in an attempt to convince both herself and her hallucination. "Maybe we're misinterpreting her message." Weiss had sent Nora a message on her scroll earlier in the day, saying that as a Major she would be given command of an elite unit of specialist soldiers, details pending. While Nora didn't have all the details, the way Weiss' message was written it sounded like Nora wouldn't be on the front lines, which is exactly where Nora wanted to be. "Just because we have an elite unit doesn't mean we won't be on the front lines."

"Who puts an elite unit on the front lines?" Her hallucination argued. "That's a recipe to get killed for no good reason."

"We'll wait until tomorrow." Nora resolved. "And if Weiss doesn't give us an answer that makes us happy, we're leaving and doing it your way."

The hallucination stood up and smiled, dancing around Nora contentedly. "Good. You have guests, I guess we can chat later." The hallucinatory Nora flopped back down onto the ground and stared at the starry sky as the real Nora turned around to see her former teammates walking towards her.

"Hey, Nora. How are you doing?" Jaune opened conversationally.

Nora's eyebrow twitched slightly. "Oh, I'm just terrific."

"Do you have a moment to talk?" Jaune asked. Pyrrha stood silently by his side, watching Nora cautiously.

"Sure, why not." Nora in a snarky voice.

"I- We just wanted to talk to you about things." Jaune continued, undeterred. "We know that since Beacon, things have been rough. And… we haven't been the best of friends."

"Rough, huh? I guess that's one way to describe it." Nora growled. What was wrong with her? She didn't want to be hostile to them. But they just kept pushing all the wrong buttons. Pyrrha with her silence. Jaune with his overly sensitive concern that was months too late. Both of them holding hands in front of her. Flaunting what Nora couldn't have.

"Isn't there some way we can reconcile? I realize… that we haven't been as supportive or understanding as we should've have been. We want to make up for that." Jaune said.

"Oh? 'We' do? Does that mean both of you?" Nora asked as she pointedly stared at Pyrrha.

"Nora, I-" Pyrrha suddenly stopped to organize her thoughts. "I think that we can only help you if you want to be helped. But you've tried so hard to be alone that no one has gotten the chance to be close enough to you."

"Pyrrha." Jaune place a hand on her shoulder to get her to stop talking. "Look Nora, why don't we spend some time talking things about, even if it's just about the past? Or even small talk?"

"There's no point in talking if there isn't anything to talk about." Nora answered simply. Talk about their feelings? They didn't think that maybe they were a few months too late?

"I'm sorry we didn't notice earlier, it's just that there was so much going on, and on top of that you still seemed like you were mostly your cheerful self and-" Pyrrha started again.

"Cheerful?" Nora yelled. "I lost Ren and you thought I was CHEERFUL?" Nora's formerly concealed fury was now fully evident on her face. "Does not wanting to bring everyone else down by crying in public mean I'm happy? Or in the months after that when it was too painful to keep up the act? What kind of idiots are you?" Nora was fuming, fists clenched at her side. "You were too busy staring at each other to see anything else; I don't see why I expected otherwise." She could hear that her hallucination had started speaking to her earlier in the conversation, but Nora wasn't listening to her either.

Jaune was trying desperately to calm Nora. "Nora, I know we weren't being good friends and I can't imagine what you're going through but-"

Nora cut him off. "No, you can't!" She turned to look at her hallucination. "And you! Shut up!" She whipped her head back around at Jaune and Pyrrha. "Who did you mourn? Did you talk to Blake about Yang? Did you talk to Weiss about Ruby? Velvet about her team? Well?"

Jaune attempted to stammer out a response, but he couldn't find the words to argue back against Nora's accusations. Had he and Pyrrha really been that selfish? Had they not spoken to the others about their losses either? Pyrrha heard something different from Nora's outburst though. "Nora? Who were you talking to? Who did you tell to shut up?"

Nora screamed as she clutched at her own head. "It's none of your business!" Her hallucination had shut up as she had asked, but now Nora had a splitting headache all of a sudden. "Just go do your duty, and I'll do mine!" Nora sprinted off into the night.

Pyrrha moved to follow, but a soft thud grabbed her attention from behind. "Jaune?" She turned around. Jaune was on his hands and knees, staring at the ground under him. "Jaune! What's wrong?" Pyrrha rushed over and lifted Jaune up to his knees.

"Are we really that bad?" Jaune whispered, tears in his eyes. "Did we really not try to talk to our friends about what they were going through? I- I can't remember, Pyrrha. I don't think we did." His shoulders sagged as he remembered the last few months. "We came out of the attack relatively unscarred compared to everyone else. Nora's right- she lost Ren, Blake lost Yang, and even Weiss lost Ruby just the next day. But we still had each other, and we did nothing to try to talk to them and help them."

"Jaune…" Pyrrha hugged hum close to her chest. "It was a tough time, with so much happening. So many things happened so quickly that there was no time to really talk about or figure out what happened." Pyrrha justified in a slight panic. Nora's words were beginning to get to her as well as she thought about them. "And after we got to the fortress, everyone was so busy. You saw how much time everyone spent training on their own schedules. And now we're in a war, so there may not be more time for a while still."

Jaune wiped away some of the tears from his eyes. "You're right. It'll all have to wait until after the war. Then we can try to get everyone together to talk. Maybe we can finally make up for the time we lost then." He got to his feet, lifting Pyrrha with him as she continued her embrace.

"Maybe we should go talk to Weiss." Pyrrha suggested. "She did that training with Tamamo. She might have some extra insight if we tell her what Nora said."

"Yeah, let's do that." Jaune said, kissing Pyrrha on the top of her head before leading the way towards Weiss' most likely position, the command tent.

 

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Weiss set down her pen after she finalized the last set of orders for the day. "Finally." She had spent the last couple of hours after talk with Tamamo setting up some changes in her plans to compensate for the delayed instruction of the hunters. But after two hours of near constant writing and filing, she was done. Weiss stood up and stretched her arms above her head, bending backwards to try to get the last bit of soreness out of her muscles.

The Lord Commander straightened with a contented sigh, feeling refreshed from her stretch, if a little sleepy. "That felt good." She said to herself. Weiss turned around and looked at the other officers in the command tent. "Good work today, everyone. Let's turn in for the night and start again when we make camp tomorrow." Everyone thanked her and began cleaning up and filing out of the tent, some of them shaking Weiss' hand as they passed by. Weiss had to silently endure her internal embarrassment as she had to look up at even the shortest of the officers.

"I need to hurry up and get taller. "Weiss grumbled. "Maybe I should invest in some height lifted boots." She looked down at her feet and contemplated whether or not she could rationalize using the hunters' budget for buying herself some comfortable footwear that would make her a little taller. At least her new uniform had arrived, so it fit properly now.

"…Height lifted boots?" A voice from behind her asked.

Weiss spun around at speeds beyond imagining, her face heating up in embarrassment, only to find Pyrrha and Jaune standing behind her at the entrance of the tent. "You heard nothing." Jaune opened his mouth to respond. " _Nothing._ " Weiss glared at him.

He held up his hands in surrender. "I heard nothing."

Weiss huffed and turned back around to her desk. "So. What can I do for you at this hour?"

"We came to talk about Nora." Pyrrha said sheepishly.

"Finally had a chance to talk to her, have you? She snap at you yet?" Weiss asked nonchalantly as she picked up her scroll. Jaune and Pyrrha stared at Weiss in shock. When Weiss turned around to look back at the couple and found her staring back at her, she raised an eyebrow. "What? Something wrong?"

"How did you know Nora was going to snap at us?" Pyrrha asked in disbelief.

"The signs were everywhere." Weiss answered. "First, she was avoiding you because she becomes depressed when she sees you together. Then she began slowly turning her thoughts and emotions inward, obsessing over her memory of Ren. And then-"

Jaune stopped Weiss. "Hold on, hold on. You knew about this?"

"Well, yeah. I spent months learning how to read people and analyze their behaviors and their psychology." Weiss stated this as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why didn't you say something to her? I think she's hearing voices or something now, it's gotten so bad." Pyrrha told Weiss.

"It probably started around two weeks ago." Weiss recalled. "She began talking in her sleep three days after we left Tamamo's fortress. Full conversations, all with herself. When she's asleep she voices both sides of the conversation. Quite clearly, I might add. I assume when she's awake she doesn't, and either has visual or auditory hallucinations. Or both, which I suspect is the more likely option."

"How can you treat this with such indifference?" Jaune asked. "She needs help!"

Weiss stared at Jaune icily, no trace of compromise in her eyes. "Because I've heard her talk to herself, and I know what her motivations are. I know how to use her effectively."

"You know how to use her?" Jaune asked.

"Nora is very powerful, and very determined. I would be a fool to give up such a powerful asset." Weiss said as she stepped out of the tent.

Jaune and Pyrrha followed behind. "She isn't an 'asset' to be used, Weiss!" Jaune protested. "She's a person! Just like you or me! Where's your compassion? Empathy? What happened to you?"

"Weiss stopped and turned around to look at the two following her. "What happened to me? Oh, you do not want to go there."

"Yes, I do." Jaune said firmly. "Look at all of us! We were all such great friends, basically family. And now we're-"

"You want to know what happened, Jaune? We died, that's what happened. Our friends and family are dead. What did you think was going to happen? We were going to be all happy and move on after a short period of moping?" Weiss angrily gestured. "No, we had to grow up fast and focus on something else to survive. We had to train, or be consumed by grief. What about you?"

"Of course we think Vacuo needs to be punished, Weiss." Pyrrha answered quickly. "But that doesn't mean we should lose ourselves to do it!"

"What do we have left?" Weiss argued back. "Maybe you're fighting for a different reason. Maybe you two are better people than me, or Nora, or Blake. Maybe you're fighting for your home, your people, and a better tomorrow."

"Of course that's what we're fighting for!" Pyrrha interjected, finally glad that Weiss was beginning to understand.

"But that's not what people like me, Nora, and Blake are fighting for." Weiss said passionately. Pyrrha shivered slightly, an irrational fear coming over her as she looked into Weiss' eyes. Weiss lowered her voice to a deadly whisper. "We want revenge. We want to destroy the people who took everything from us."

"Weiss…" Jaune pleaded. He couldn't stand to see one of his friends in this state.

"Are you with me?" Weiss asked. "Or will you leave everyone we lost behind?"

"We will fight, Weiss." Pyrrha declared. "But not for your reasons. We we'll fight because it is right, not for personal vengeance. The only thing your pursuit of revenge will do is get you killed. You need to stop this."

"As long as you fight alongside me, our reasons don't need to match." Weiss countered. "But you seem to be mistaken about something, Pyrrha." Pyrrha cocked her head in confusion, waiting for Weiss to clarify. "I don't have some misguided belief that once I get my revenge everything will be just fine. I understand that my quest will in all likelihood have an unhealthy conclusion. I don't have to survive this war, Pyrrha. I just have to win it." Weiss finished with a heavy finality. Then she turned and calmly strode off into the night, leaving behind a stunned Jaune and Pyrrha to think about what she had said.


	17. Ambush at Dawn

"Weiss? You wanted to see me about my position?" Nora asked as she walked into the command tent. It was dawn, an hour before they army was due to pack up and continue their march westward. Nora had bags under her eyes from a lack of sleep caused by her confrontation with Jaune and Pyrrha the previous night. The following headache and argument with her personal hallucination certainly didn't help.

"Hm? Oh, yes." Weiss pulled a packet of papers out of the mountainous stack sitting on her desk. "I wanted to give you the full details about how I felt you would be most effective."

Nora accepted the packet, but didn't look at it. "On the front lines, I hope."

"No, actually." Weiss answered, opening the packet in Nora's hands to a few pages in.

"…Excuse me?" Nora asked, baffled. "Why not?"

"Because I don't think that your fighting style is really suited a prolonged, drawn out grind on the front lines." Weiss responded. "So I've done something else with you and your new soldiers."

Nora stared at Weiss. She was torn- she had wanted only to fight on the front, but if Weiss had really found a place where she could do even more damage, then maybe she could accept whatever it is Weiss had done. "I hope I'm still in a position to do a lot of damage, then."

"Most definitely. Look here." Weiss pointed at the packet, indicating the inventory and tactics employed by Nora and her soldiers. Nora read carefully, her eyes widening as she saw what Weiss was showing her. "What do you think?"

"This is… amazing." Nora said in awe. "Isn't this going to be really expensive?"

"With you at the head leading them and my strategy, the gain will outweigh the cost tenfold." Weiss replied. "You will have command of a company of one hundred and fifty soldiers, made up of five platoons of thirty soldiers each. You remember how I had you fight when we first arrived?

"Break up clusters and formations, demoralize, take out big targets." Nora recalled.

"And that's exactly what your company is designed to do. You go in where I send you, do as much damage as you can, then get out. Then you restock your weapons, reposition, and attack again." Weiss finished. "Not quite the front lines like you wanted, but you'll be doing far more damage this way since your soldiers will all have heavy weapons."

Nora pulled Weiss into a powerful embrace. "Thank you so much!" Nora was elated.

Weiss gasped for air as Nora let go. "No… problem."

Nora closed the packet and looked at the front of it. "Hammer Company?" She asked.

"I thought about calling it Madhammer Company, since you love it so much, but I settled on this." Weiss said with a grin.

Nora punched Weiss on the shoulder playfully. "That definitely wouldn't have ended well for you."

"I figured." Weiss pulled yet another packet of papers out of her stack. "Would you mind taking these papers to Blake before you go and meet your soldiers? If she's not in her tent then just leave them there so she can get them when she packs up later."

"Yup, no problem." Nora agreed, before skipping out of the tent, excited to meet her soldiers. "See ya!"

"Bye, Nora." Weiss turned back to begin packing her own stuff.

"I told you she would give us a good role." Nora said to no one that Weiss could see. Weiss figured it was the hallucination. She wasn't worried though- she had won over Nora's entire mind for now, and Nora would not betray her now that she had a battle ready unit of soldiers.

 

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Nora jogged across the camp, past soldiers who were busy packing up their tents a little early, and others who were waking up. The soldiers who had already packed up early were loading their things onto the supply convoy for transport, carrying only their weapons, armor, and essential survive supplies on their person. The soldiers were all very kind and respectful, greeting Nora and wishing her a good morning as she passed. After a few minutes, Nora realized that she didn't actually know where Blake's tent was, because it had been relocated when Blake was placed in covert ops. She slowed to a stop and pulled her scroll from her pocket, and called Weiss.

Weiss clicked on her scroll and answered, but remained silent. This was fine for Nora, who knew that Weiss that expected if you called her then you had something to say, and a standard greeting was just wasted time. "Where's Blake's tent been moved to?" Nora asked simply.

"North side of the camp." Weiss answered. "At the edge."

"'Kay, thanks." Nora hung up. She then changed her course to head for the northern edge of the camp to search for wherever it was Blake's tent was. Once she reached the north end of the camp, she discovered that finding Blake's tent wasn't actually difficult because her name was stenciled on the front of it. "Blake? You in there?" Nora stuck her head into the tent and peeked around. "Blake?" She didn't see anyone in the tent, so she stepped inside to leave the packet of orders on top of Blake's storage bin.

There was a rustling of blankets to the side, drawing Nora's attention. "Mmrgh. Blake?" A sleepy voice asked groggily.

"Is that you, Velvet?" Nora asked.

The blanket on the bed sat up, draping off of Velvet's head. Velvet reached up and pulled the blankets off of her head, her ears springing up straight without the weight of the blanket to hold them down. "Hrm?" As Velvet began fully waking up, the blanket fell off of her, revealing her bare torso. "Oh, Nora." Velvet said through a yawn, "What brings you here?"

Nora held up the packet of papers. "Set of orders for Blake from Weiss."

"Oh." Velvet looked around the tent before she held out a hand towards Nora. "I think Blake already left to do her scouting, I'll take them for you. I can leave them in her storage crate when I pack up everything for her."

"Works for me." Nora shrugged as she handed over the papers. "You have an enjoyable evening last night?" Nora grinned as she gestured towards Velvet's exposed body.

Velvet looked down at her body, finally noticing the discolorations and marks on her skin that Blake had left the previous night. Velvet blushed and wrapped the blanket around her to cover all of her exposed skin up to her neck. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to be so… not presentable."

"Don't worry about it." Nora laughed. "I'm gonna get going now, then. Soldiers to meet. Bye!"

"Have a good day, Nora." Velvet said with a wave.

 

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Jaune brought his shield up against his shoulder, blocking the overhead strike Pyrrha directed towards his side. Pyrrha let her sword slide down Jaune's shield, using the momentum to follow through with a spin, bringing her shield around to smash into Jaune's. The blow sent Jaune flying backwards, sliding on his back across the grassy clearing. Jaune rolled backwards to his feet, tottering on his feet as he attempted to recover from the momentary dizziness cause by the strength of Pyrrha's shield bash.

He had little time to recover as Pyrrha charged, shield raised in front of her and sword at the ready. Jaune braced himself by lowering his center of gravity and raising his shield. As soon as Pyrrha got within range, Jaune launched a preemptive strike by lashing out with his leg, sweeping Pyrrha's front leg out from under her. She fell forward, Jaune having swept out her leg just before she could finish settling her weight onto it. Pyrrha was an extremely skilled warrior though, and knew how to continue using her momentum to her advantage even while falling forward. Curling up into a ball, Pyrrha rolled past Jaune's legs before he could leap out of the way before rolling to her feet behind where he was standing and spinning, sword leading the way once more.

However, Jaune was ready for this and was already raising his shield to intercept Pyrrha's sword, knocking it out of her hands and into the air above them. Jaune followed up by swiping at Pyrrha's legs with his own sword, but Pyrrha leaped up over it, grabbing onto Jaune's shield with her free hand as she did so. When gravity pulled her back down to the ground, Jaune's shield came with her as he let it slide out of his grip in surprise.

Pyrrha tossed Jaune's shield behind her, then punched out with her own shield and struck Jaune in his armored chest plate, sending him flying once more. While Jaune was in the air, Pyrrha leaped to follow, snatching her weapon out of the air and initiating a transformation from its sword form to its spear form as she did so. Pyrrha fell back down once more towards Jaune, who was only just now landing, and landed with her feet on either side of his waist, spear point lancing into the dirt next to his throat.

"I win." Pyrrha said through heavy breaths, smiling at her victory.

"One of these days, I will actually beat you in a sparring match." Jaune conceded, laughing. Cheers erupted all around them.

"It looks like our audience enjoyed the match." Pyrrha commented as she helped Jaune to his feet while the soldiers who had been watching applauded.

"Weiss was right, I guess." Jaune said quietly, so only Pyrrha could hear him. "Just being out in public and training with them does help build a rapport with the soldiers."

"I can't disagree with her methods, I admit." Pyrrha agreed. She waved at the gathered soldiers, earning another round of cheers.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" the soldiers chanted. Word had spread quickly that Jaune and Pyrrha were lovers, and it seemed the soldiers took heart that a romance could still be happening even on a military campaign.

Jaune scratched his head nervously while Pyrrha blushed at the chant, a little uneasy at the attention they were receiving. Pyrrha decided to toss the soldiers a bone though, and stood on the tips of her toes to give Jaune a quick peck on the cheek. The soldiers roared another cheer, intermixed with laughter as Jaune joined Pyrrha in blushing. "All right, everyone." Pyrrha announced as she raised a hand for quiet. You've had your fun. Let's all make sure we finish packing for today's march, okay? Let's get going!" She ordered with a smile.

The soldiers, their spirits lifted, all gave their informal salutes and acknowledgements of Pyrrha's order before dispersing. As cynical as it sounded, Pyrrha and Jaune had used Weiss' advice to plan out their days so that they could be seen and meet as many soldiers as they could so that the soldiers could be inspired and be more receptive to orders on the battlefield when the time came. "Where are we riding today?" Jaune asked.

"We're riding with…" Pyrrha consulted her scroll, "the supply battalion today." As their name suggested, the supply battalion was composed of soldiers who specialized in moving supplies for the army, whether it was distribution of supplies they already had or receiving more from supply trains. On the battlefield, the supply battalion played the critical role of making sure everyone had sufficient resources, whether it was armor, weapons, food rations, water, medical supplies, and whatever else needed to be moved around. Though they were often overlooked by people outside the army, the supply battalion was probably one of the most respected groups by the main combat soldiers on the battlefield because the supply battalion was responsible for quickly and efficiently making sure everyone else was as comfortable as they could be, not to mention fed.

"Cool, we haven't met them yet. This'll be neat." Jaune commented as he retrieved his shield from where Pyrrha had thrown it. "Let's go get our-"

Jaune's words were drowned out in the roar of an explosion.

 

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Weiss spun around in surprise. "What was that?" Weiss saw smoke rising in the distance. "An accident?" Weiss' scroll began alerting her to an emergency call. "Blake?"

"There's an enemy raid!" Blake interrupted. "I just found some of my scouts dead in the forest to the southwest."

"Damn. There was an explosion just now. Gather your men and circle around to make sure there aren't any more." Weiss ended the call. She turned to the other officers in the tent. "Send out the call to arms, have the soldiers form up in squads and begin organizing themselves defensively."

Weiss' scroll began beeping again. "General Kosti."

"Lord Commander! The enemy raid is concentrated in the south, they're heading your way!" He reported. There was the sound of gunfire in the background, along with battle cries and screams of pain. "It doesn't look like a huge force, but-" He was interrupted by enemy soldiers bursting into the tent behind him. He turned to see his own soldiers charging to intercept them. With the threat now present before him, General Kosti reached off screen and pulled a long, curved scimitar back onto screen. "I'm not so old that I can't carve you up like a holiday ham, you scoundrels!" He charged into the throng of soldiers that invaded the tent, sword raised.

"General!" Weiss yelled into the scroll. "General don't- argh, damn it." He was too far away to hear the scroll at this point, and was already engaged in battle. "You tough old man." Weiss turned to her officers again. "Get reinforcements over to southern command!" She looked back at the scroll to see General Kosti handily parry a sword before gutting the offending soldier. The rest of the fight was cut short as a nearby explosion cut off the signal from General Kosti's scroll.

"Lord Commander," one of her officers called out, "our men are mobilizing to counter the enemy now."

"Good." Weiss responded. "How does it look?"

A different officer answered. "General Kosti was right, the force isn't a large one. Two thousand men at most, I believe they were hoping to target critical areas in our camp but got caught up on General Kosti's force."

"Well, if they get Kosti then they still got someone important." Weiss grumbled.

The first officer reported further. "Major General Arc and Major General Nikos are defending the supply battalion and the supply trucks with their honor guard, Lord Commander! They report that their forces are holding without any problems."

"What about Major Valkyrie?" Weiss asked.

"She appears to be leading Hammer Company against the enemy." The officer continued. "… they seem to be doing a tremendous amount of damage."

"As expected." Weiss chuckled. "It seems like we got lucky and they're fairly contained." Weiss drew Myrtenaster from her side. "Call my honor guard. We go to battle."

 

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Blake pulled her katana out of the back of the soldiers she had just skewered. "Gross." She muttered as she flicked the blood off of her blade. At least the Grimm had the courtesy to dissolve into nothing after they died. People just left a mess. Blake reached up and tapped her earpiece. "Captain Gray, report."

"Squads two through four are beginning their sweep, ma'am. I'm leading squad one to rendezvous with you." Blake's second in command reported. Blake liked him- he was reliable, efficient, and never said more than he needed to. He was also as close to emotionless as Blake had ever seen. An excellent second in command to carry out her orders and report to her. She could also appreciate his proficiency with a blade; Captain Gray was a master at wielding the twin battle scythes he kept at his side, dancing through enemy soldiers and cutting them to ribbons as if they were standing still. Blake was sure that had he received the proper training, he would have made a formidable huntsman.

"Don't bother, I can deal with the ones I find on my own." Blake answered. "Join the perimeter sweep and make sure none of their scouts get away. Wouldn't want them reporting back to their officers, would we?"

"Of course not, ma'am." He answered casually before Blake cut off the transmission.

Blake was circling around where she had found her dead soldiers, killing the enemy scouts she could find so they couldn't report back to their base officers. It was a psychological technique that Weiss had told her about. To a commander, no news at all was worse than news of a failed attack. It would leave them wondering, not quite sure what had ever happened to their soldiers. 'A good commander can deal with failure, and learn from it. It is much harder to learn when you do something and get no feedback in return.'

Blake intended to make sure that the Vacuoan commanders got no information at all from this attack.

 

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Velvet leapt up high, over the two soldiers in front of her. The soldiers spun to defend themselves from behind, only to see Velvet had not landed there. She had leapt up higher than they had known she was capable, and was still in the air directly above the two soldiers who were attacking her. She fell feet first, landing on the shoulders of one soldier and crushing him into the ground with a sickening crunch while the other stared in shock. Before he could recover, Velvet lashed out with her powerful legs again, shattering his ribcage and piercing his lungs with the broken bones. Velvet heard the click of a loading assault rifle behind her, and spun to see a third soldier aiming a gun at her chest.

Velvet looked down the barrel of the rifle in front of her, filled with a sudden regret that she would be leaving Blake alone. The soldier fired as Velvet closed her eyes reflexively. There was a loud cracking noise, and…

Velvet opened her eyes. The bullet was floating in the air just in front of her face, stopped by a floating glyph. The soldier looked in shock at the floating bullet, only to jerk in surprise as a thin pointed blade erupted from his chest. He slid off of it with a gasp, twitching and spasming his last breaths. "Don't give up so easily, Velvet." Weiss said as she flicked Myrtenaster clean of blood. Weiss' glyph faded away and the bullet fell to the ground harmlessly. "Are you hurt?" Weiss' honor guard fanned out to engage and intercept other soldiers in the area.

"No, I'm fine. Just got caught by surprise." Velvet answered as she brushed some dust off of her.

Weiss nodded. "And where are you soldiers?"

"I sent them out to join in to provide medical support to other squads." Velvet answered. Her platoons of medically trained soldiers were all capable of operating individually alongside others, so being ordered to spread out and join other squads was no surprise.

"Good call. Stay behind me, you can provide support for me and my men." Weiss ordered. "Reform the line!" She shouted to her men. The honor guard rallied to her, gathering into a formation as they all jogged to the main site of the battle.

"Have you heard from Blake?" Velvet asked as they ran.

"She's was out scouting when she found her dead scouts." Weiss glanced over at Blake. "She's fine. Just doing her thing."

Conversation paused as they encountered their first resistance. Weiss' honor guard had no problem dealing with them; they were some of the best of the best at what they did. They were heavily armored and well armed, and all veterans of many battles. They incurred no losses, their skill being augmented by Weiss' glyphs and Velvet's medical expertise.

"There don't seem to be very many soldiers." Velvet commented.

"I heard there weren't very many because it looks like it's just a raid, but I agree it looks like there aren't very many soldiers." Weiss agreed.

Velvet began speculating. "You think they-"

"Hammer Company, smash!" They heard a voice in the distance yell.

"Maybe that's why." Weiss sighed.

There was a series of explosions in the distance, accompanied by Vacuoan soldiers fleeing them in terror. Velvet, Weiss, and her honor guard stopped and stared at the terrified soldiers. It didn't take long for them to see what was responsible for their fear. Nora, at the head of a hundred and fifty roaring soldiers, crashed into the rear of the retreating Vacuoans. Nora's soldiers were all armed with explosives, large firearms, and heavy weapons as large as Nora's hammer, which they all used to great effect. The result on the fleeing Vacuoans was devastating.

"I guess we know why we aren't finding very many soldiers." Weiss deadpanned.

"Yeah." Velvet said as she stared at Nora and her soldiers wreaking havoc in the remaining enemies. "I would like to say that I would like to provide medical assistance for them, but I don't think any of them are actually hurt." She observed.

"I'm not surprised." Weiss said. "It looks like the other soldiers have it covered. Let's spread out and look for wounded." Weiss' soldiers fanned out and began searching the toppled tents and ruined vehicles. If a soldier found someone, they called for Velvet, who used her medical training and aura expertise to provide aid where she could.

After a while of this, one of Weiss' guards called out for her. "Lord Commander!"

Weiss began walking over as she kept an eye out for potential dangers and allied soldiers. "Yes?"

"I found General Kosti, ma'am." He reportedly somberly.

Weiss approached where the soldier was standing as he picked up and threw a Vacuoan corpse off to the side. Under where the body was laying was General Kosti, eyes staring blankly at the sky above. His body was surrounded by many others, both the few soldiers that had been fighting with him as well as the large numbers of enemies who had attacked him. It appeared he had put up a glorious last stand alongside his men before falling, his torso riddled with bullet wounds and a single broken spearhead protruding from his chest.

"It looks like he put up a good fight." Weiss observed, looking at the number of Vacuoan bodies that had the long, curving cuts that were indicative of scimitar slashes. "Start bringing our bodies back for proper burials. Throw the Vacuoans onto a pile and burn them."

"Yes, ma'am." He acknowledged. The soldier began to order the rest of the surrounding soldiers into pairs to carry bodies to where they needed to go. They progressed quickly, with more and more soldiers coming to help as the battle died down. From the reports each new group was giving Weiss, it seemed that Nora and Hammer Company had utterly destroyed the Vacuoans and were now doing a search through the camp for anyone they anyone have missed.

"I knew making Hammer Company volunteer-only would lead to crazy people joining." Weiss mumbled as she supervised the clean up.

 

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A few hours later, Velvet returned to Weiss to report on her side of the clean up. "All of our wounded are treated and stable, Weiss."

"How many soldiers did we lose?" Weiss asked from her desk.

"Just over five hundred." Velvet answered. "Would've been worse, but between Jaune and Pyrrha leading a defensive line, you ordering the Vacuoans surrounded, and Hammer company, the enemy soldiers were overwhelmed very quickly. Most of the men we lost were in the initial surprise attack."

"Not bad, but still five hundred soldiers too many." Weiss sighed. "Their raid was two thousand men strong, we did very well considering. If they can spare two thousand for a raid though, their numbers call for a new plan on our part. They must have even more soldiers than we thought."

"So what's the plan now then?" Another voice joined in the conversation. Both girls turned around to see Blake striding into the command tent, blood staining some of her clothes.

"Blake!" Velvet hopped over and began looking her over. "You aren't hurt, right?"

"I'm fine." Blake rubbed the top of Velvet's head, ruffling her hair. "The blood isn't mine." She turned back to Weiss. "Me and my men made sure that no one left camp. We have a few prisoners, too. They're being interrogated right now."

"Good. Who's doing the interrogating?" Weiss asked as she wrote down what Blake was telling her.

"Captain Gray." Blake answered with a grin.

"I almost feel sorry for those prisoners." Velvet shuddered. Blake had told her one night about Captain Gray, and if one were to ask Velvet, Captain Gray frightened her. Emotionless and efficient, he was the exact opposite of what Velvet represented as a medical officer.

"He'll get the information then?" Weiss asked. She was not as familiar with Captain Gray as the other two were.

"Oh, he'll have it quickly enough." Blake smiled.

"Who has what now?" Another voice asked. The voice belonged to Jaune, who walked into the tent with Pyrrha. Nora followed them in. All three were still covered in the blood and grime she acquired from the earlier battle.

"Just interrogating some prisoners." Weiss answered.

"We got some then? That's good news." Pyrrha said.

"Indeed." Weiss agreed. She straightened up and looked at her officers. "We won't be moving out today, for obvious reasons. Make sure everyone recovers sufficiently for today. We'll move out tomorrow instead."

"Understood." Her officers answered.

"Finally going on the offensive then?" Nora asked hopefully.

"Yes. We can't fight a war defensively. No matter how good we do, if we don't attack then we can't truly damage them. We move out tomorrow." Weiss ordered.

"Let's get this war started." Nora agreed, pounding one fist into her other open hand.


	18. One Year Later

"Draw them into the cliffs!" Jaune yelled to his men. His soldiers were fighting a defensive battle in a valley below some tall, sloping cliffs and hills. "Slowly!" Jaune sidestepped a stray spear that flew by and stuck into the ground, waggling back and forth. He snatched up the spear and threw it back out over his own soldiers at the mob of Vacuoan soldiers, striking some poor, unfortunate foe in the chest.

Jaune's soldiers were positioned in a tight phalanx, large rectangular shields overlapping to form a near impenetrable wall. It wasn't quite at the point of being invincible, but the formations and shields together reduced casualties to a bare minimum. The downside was that the casualties they could inflict were also limited because his soldiers couldn't go on the offensive. That wasn't Jaune's job though. His job, with his armored soldiers, was to form defensive lines and to use their armored advantage to draw enemy soldiers into traps. Like this one.

"Hold here and stay alive, men!" Jaune ordered. The line was holding without issue at the base of a cliff, even as outnumbered as they were with Jaune's fifteen hundred against a Vacuoan brigade of six thousand. Though they were doing well, every life was precious and Jaune knew how best to aid his soldiers. Jaune opened himself up to his near immeasurable amounts of aura, filling himself with glowing light and aura that begged for release. He obliged and forced his aura outwards from himself in an ever expanding wave. His aura infused his soldiers with energy, washing away their fatigue and healing their wounds.

His soldiers cheered, thankful for the rush of energy and health that Jaune had gifted them. They put their newfound energy to good use, the soldiers in front reinforcing and strengthening their lines while those behind pulled their own ranged weapons to fire into the mass of enemy soldiers. Jaune collapsed to one knee, the sudden expenditure of aura exhausting him. His honor guard swarmed around him, linking shields around and above their commander to protect him while he was vulnerable. "Just a little longer, and we'll be okay." He panted. Jaune heard a horn in the distance. "Good timing, Pyrrha." He sighed in relief.

The horn was followed by battle cries as Pyrrha and her three thousand soldiers flowed into the valley that Jaune had lured the Vacuoans into, trapping them in the valley. With Pyrrha's soldiers joining the fray, the numbers were closer to evening out at forty-five hundred to six thousand. Pyrrha herself was on the front lines of her side of the battle, leading the charge. With a great battle cry, they crashed into the enemy soldiers.

Jaune's earpiece crackled with static for a moment. "Jaune, get your soldiers as close to the cliff face as you can." Weiss' voice ordered when the static cleared.

"Already there, Weiss." Jaune replied.

"Good. Hold out for just a little longer." Weiss' channel cut out.

"Got it, boss." Jaune mumbled to himself. He turned to his soldiers to shout encouragement. "Just a little longer while-"

"Fire!" A loud voice interrupted from far above Jaune.

"That was quick." Jaune mumbled as a series of blasts went off on the cliff face above him. He looked up to see more than a hundred rockets and streaming down from the cliffs above, launched by the renowned Hammer Company. The rockets crashed into the middle of the host of Vacuoans, bursting into fiery blossoms of destruction that threw bodies every which way. Only seconds later, a second salvo of rockets leapt towards the Vacuoans, continuing the stream of destruction.

Over the explosions, Jaune could swear he could hear Nora laughing on the cliff above, firing off grenade after grenade into the Vacuoans. Then he collapsed, unconscious.

 

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Chairman Crane knocked on an ornate wooden door with his cane. "You there, old man?"

"Yes, yes. Come in." Ozpin called out. Chairman Crane opened the door and hobbled in on his prosthetic leg, cane clicking on the hardwood floor. "Long time no see, Chairman. Been too busy with your new position to come and see the newly rebuilt Beacon and visit an old friend?" Ozpin joked as he stood and shook his friend's hand.

"It's only been a year since we last saw each other." The Chairman laughed. "It's a lot of effort trying to lead a council to make productive decisions." Crane joked. "I'm glad to see Beacon rebuilt, though. How long has it been now since the attack? Eighteen months?"

"Somewhere around there, yeah." Ozpin agreed vaguely. "It's good to have Beacon up and running again."

"It's good to see it up again. Looks better than before, too." Crane added.

"I may have added a few of my own ideas to the blueprints that weren't there before." Ozpin said coyly.

"I see." Crane chuckled. "How about initiation? I've seen some strange reports coming across my desk from hunters."

"So even the council has heard, then? We've had to change Beacon's initiation, yes. The Emerald Forest is almost completely empty of Grimm now, so we've had to make some adjustments with such training. Though I haven't quite worked out what I'm supposed to be teaching huntsman and huntresses to fight if the Grimm are all dying off." Ozpin shrugged.

"You're a clever man, I'm sure you'll figure it out." Crane assured Ozpin.

"You give me too much credit." Ozpin grinned. "Glynda does a lot of the work."

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. The door opened without waiting for a response from Ozpin and Glynda let herself in. "Headmaster, I have the roster for… oh, Chairman Crane." Glynda gave a slight bow. "My apologies for interrupting."

"Not at all, milady." Crane took Glynda's hand a placed a light kiss on the back of her hand. "I hope you're doing well?"

"I am well, thank you." Glynda answered courteously. "I'll just leave this with you, headmaster." Glynda set the student roster down on Ozpin's desk.

"Thank you, Glynda." Ozpin picked up and opened the roster as Glynda left the office.

"Good news?" Crane asked conversationally.

"Not really." Ozpin replied. "Enrollment is down a few percent."

"Enrollment has been down everywhere since the war started." Crane said. "People don't want their children getting ideas about joining the war like Miss Schnee and her hunters. They've become quite infamous."

"That was unexpected, I will admit." Ozpin agreed. "Do you have news from the battlefront? I'm afraid I haven't heard anything from them since they left last year."

"Lord Commander Schnee is doing brilliantly." Crane answered. "Our army hasn't lost a single battle since she took command."

"She's far surpassed any expectations we've had, then." Ozpin said.

"You are right, of course. Your plan was a success. Hunters are the only thing keeping us in this war." Crane tapped his cane idly. "I suppose I should get back to the capital. I'm in negotiations with Mistral and Atlas again, trying to secure some reinforcements or support for the war. It's almost like they've forgotten they were attacked too."

"Out of sight, out of mind." Ozpin said, standing up and opening the door for Chairman Crane. "The war isn't on their doorstep, so they don't see it as their problem. Or they think that they can leave us to deal with the war without getting their hands dirty."

"Well, tragedy changes people. There's no denying that." Crane said somberly as he walked to the door.

"No, there isn't." Ozpin agreed sadly as his friend walked away.

 

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"Okay, thanks Pyrrha." Weiss said an hour later. "I'll see you once you're done." Weiss shut off communication with Pyrrha and set down her headpiece. "Another battle done." She sighed. Their latest plan was simple- Blake and her covert operatives planted false information for the enemy, luring a smaller chunk of the Vacuoan army away from the main group so that they could deal with it without being overwhelmed by their numbers. Such tactics were necessary when the enemy outnumbered you so much that a head to head battle was out of the question.

Right now, Pyrrha's forces were off making sure that no Vacuoans had escaped while Jaune and his men recovered and Hammer Company restocked their supplies. The rest of the army remained with Weiss, who remained camped in place to deceive the enemy into thinking they hadn't moved. Soon enough the Vacuoan commanders would discover they had been deceived and realize they'd been led into a trap and Weiss would have to order her army to reposition once again.

Weiss was walking a line more fine than she had imagined possible with her army. Just over a year of battles, through four seasons. The guerilla tactics of a snowy winter, the slow trudge through the wet and muddy spring, the frantic and heated battles of summer, and the careful maneuvering of autumn. And now they were once again in the midst of winter, at a stalemate, with spring fast approaching. A year of battles, and Weiss had led the army to victory at every single one. It was an impressive accomplishment, if one didn't bother to look at the big picture.

While Weiss and the Vytal army may not have lost a single battle, they were most definitely on the losing side of the war. Weiss could only field a small fraction of the amount of soldiers that Vacuo could, and even when Vacuo lost five or even ten times as many soldiers in a battle as Weiss did, they could afford it while Weiss couldn't. No matter how good Weiss did, the numbers were so far against them it almost didn't matter. And this fact was a source of great stress for the Lord Commander.

"I need a vacation." Weiss grumbled.

"Don't we all." Blake said as she walked into Weiss' command tent. "A year of constant marching and fighting tires you out."

"Has it been that long already?" Weiss sighed. "I lose track of time."

Blake held up a packet of reports. "Just dropping of the latest batch of reports. All successful." Blake reported.

"Thanks, Blake." Weiss said. "I actually wanted to talk to you about some of the missions you've been taking actually, now that you're here." Weiss said. Blake's soldiers all worked as covert operatives and black ops specialists, and so they had a different process that they operated by, as per Blake's request and Weiss' design. Weiss would set up lists of missions that needed to be done based on the information and objectives they had, and send them over to Blake. Blake would then decide how many soldiers would be appropriate for the mission and then post the list to a bulletin board in her unit's command tent, where her soldiers would sign up for missions that played to their strengths. It was a system that allowed Blake's men to have a little more freedom, to decide what part they could play. Some soldiers were better scouts than they were spies; others were better spies than assassins, and so on.

"Sorry, could it wait?" Blake asked. "I'm on a tight schedule with my next mission. I'll talk to you after I get back, all right?"

"Wait-" Weiss tried to stop Blake from leaving, but she quickly dodged out of the tent before Weiss could confront her. Weiss quickly followed her out of the tent, but Blake was nowhere to be seen. "Damn it." Weiss had to find a way to confront Blake eventually, before the worst happened. She pulled out her scroll and contacted Velvet.

"Yes, Weiss?" Velvet's voice answered. "You need me?"

"Are you near Blake's tent?" Weiss asked quickly.

"Yeah, why?" Her interest was piqued.

Weiss breathed a sigh of relief. "Go there and wait for her. Stall her and keep her there for as long as you can." Weiss began swiftly walking towards Blake's tent.

"Is something wrong?"

"Just keep her from leaving!" Weiss growled agitatedly before ending the call. Weiss kept moving towards Blake's tent, hoping to get there in time to confront Blake before she could slip away on another mission.

As she finally got closer to Blake's tent a few minutes later, Weiss could hear a commotion coming from inside. "Blake, why do you have to leave so soon? You only just got back from your last mission this morning. You need to take a break." Weiss could hear Velvet speaking to Blake.

"I don't need a break, I'm perfectly healthy." Blake argued.

Weiss stepped into the tent. Velvet was standing just a few steps inside, in front of the flap. She was blocking Blake, who was making an attempt to move past her and leave the tent. "Blake, there you are. I need to speak to you."

"I really should get going on this mission, you two." Blake growled.

"It can wait." Weiss ordered with finality.

Blake glowered at the two standing against her. "Fine. What do you want to talk about?"

Weiss placed a hand on Velvet's shoulder. "Do you mind giving us some privacy?" She asked.

Velvet looked confused and concerned, but nodded in agreement. "Sure. I'll be back in the medical tent." She ducked out of the flap and left Weiss and Blake alone.

Blake tapped her foot impatiently as she shifted her weight to one side. "So? You wanted to talk?"

"Blake, please. You know what I want to talk about." Weiss said.

"No, I don't think I do." Blake argued back.

"Please don't make this difficult." Weiss asked softly. "You know that I want to talk to you about these missions you keep going on."

"What about them? They all end in success, right? Something wrong?" Blake asked innocently.

"Yes!" Weiss raised her voice. "You keep taking the most dangerous missions. Missions meant for squads. And you're doing them on your own, without back-up! You're going to get yourself killed!"

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" Blake countered. "And I'm keeping more of my soldiers alive this way."

"That argument may work on Velvet, but I'm not in love with you so I know better than to believe that." Weiss argued. "You're taking dangerous missions because you're hoping that you'll get killed on them."

"I'm not-" Blake started.

"Don't try to tell me that's not what's happening, Blake!" Weiss continued. "I know you!"

"Are you saying I'm trying to compromise the war effort?" Blake responded.

"Of course not." Weiss answered. "You don't want to lose the war or just let yourself die. If you wanted that, you would have just killed yourself or let yourself get discovered on a mission and gotten it over with. You want to die fighting."

Blake just silently stared back at Weiss. "… Is that so?"

"Blake, ever since we started fighting last year you've been on missions constantly." Weiss lowered her voice back to normal. "You're out on missions so much that you haven't been with the main army for more than a few weeks total, and never for more than a day at a time. Even Velvet sees you only once every couple weeks, and she goes out of her way to try to wait for you. "

Blake's shoulders sagged, just a little. "That's not a real problem. She knows that we're all busy with our duties." Despite Blake's words, Weiss could see that Blake was at last feeling at least a little guilt about leaving Velvet alone for so long.

"We are busy, but what you're doing is borderline suicidal. Tell me I'm wrong, Blake. For once, I really want to be wrong." Weiss pleaded.

Blake could only stare quietly back in response. Weiss stared right back into Blake's eyes, waiting for an answer. After a long silence, Blake finally broke eye contact and sat down on her cot, defeated. "Okay. You win." Blake's shoulders sagged with a heaviness and sadness that she tried to keep from everyone else for so long. "What do you want me to say?"

"There's no winning here, Blake. Just friends, trying to help each other." Weiss sat down next to Blake. "I know I'm not the best person to talk about feelings with, but I can do my best to help. Talk to me, Blake." Weiss reached over and squeezed Blake's hand in an attempt to comfort her.

Blake stared ahead in silence, still ever reluctant to express her own feelings, even to close friends. Her free hand idly fingered the orange scarf that she wore around her neck while she wasn't on missions. This didn't escape Weiss' notice, and the significance of the subconscious act wasn't lost on Weiss either.

"You're lonely." Weiss said quietly.

Blake looked over at Weiss with eyes softened by moisture. "Yeah." Her composure began to crack as the moisture built up in her eyes. "I miss her so much." Blake's voice cracked as the wall she built finally crumbled now that she was being confronted by Weiss.

Weiss pulled Blake into an embrace, holding her friend against her chest as Blake finally let out a year's worth of tears and grief that she had kept hidden inside. "I know, Blake. I know." Weiss whispered as she stroked Blake's hair.

Blake sobbed against Weiss' chest. "She had to just go and be a hero, and I couldn't be there to protect her, and I didn't even get a small chance to say goodbye and…" Blake couldn't continue as another bout of sobbing took over her.

"I know, Blake." Weiss whispered in understanding. "But she did what she did because she loved you. And you're hurting because you love her."

"It hurts, Weiss." Blake whimpered. "I feel hurt and empty in my chest."

"We're here for you, Blake. Me, Velvet, Jaune, Pyrrha." Weiss assured her. "Even Nora, in her own way." Weiss added offhandedly.

Blake let out a quick, single hum of laughter. "Nora is too far gone to reassure anyone."

Weiss chuckled as well. "I suppose you're right. She just wants revenge, now."

Blake lifted herself off of Weiss, wiping her cheeks and eyes of tears. "I did too. But one year and hundreds of assassinations later, I'm still empty Weiss. I don't want revenge anymore. It's done nothing for me. I still just want Yang back."

"I know how you feel, Blake. But that doesn't mean you have to die to see her." Weiss said. "Do… you want out? To stop fighting in the war?" Weiss asked cautiously.

"And leave you alone?" Blake asked with a small smile. "Where would you be without me?"

Weiss chuckled. "Probably a lot less successful than we are right now."

Blake finally laughed. "Thanks for the flattery."

"I realize this may be tactless, given the context, but what about Velvet?" Weiss asked timidly.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked as she walked over to her storage crate and pulled out a towel to clean her face.

"Well, it's not exactly a secret among us that she's sort of… you know, in love with you." Weiss said. "What about your feelings for her?"

Blake stayed quiet as she wiped her face dry. Once she finished, she placed the towel back in her crate and turned back to Weiss. "I… like her. She's nice, and cute, and caring and loving. But I think that's about where my feelings stop for her. I can admit that without her I probably wouldn't have made it this far, and I get the feeling she needed me too. But that's it." Blake said with a sigh.

"Does she know, at least?" Weiss asked as she stood up as well.

"I'm not sure, to be honest." Blake admitted. "I know she's in love with me, as you said. I want to believe that deep down she knows that I can't feel the same."

"I'm sure she does, and understands." Weiss assured her.

Blake stretched her arms above her head with a yawn. "I'm sorry for avoiding you for so long, Weiss. Thank you for forcing me to talk, too."

"What are friends for, if not to cry on and stain their uniforms?" Weiss joked.

Blake laughed. "Sorry about that. But I have to go post the new mission assignments now."

"Wait, you were serious about that?" Weiss asked in surprise.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, to be honest I thought you were just saying that to avoid me." Weiss said, embarrassed.

"I kinda was. I made it out to be more urgent than it actually was, I don't leave until tomorrow." Blake admitted, also embarrassed.

Both girls just stared sheepishly at each other for a second before they both burst out laughing again. "Well, anyways." Blake began after they finished their initial burst of laughter. "I really should get going."

Weiss grabbed Blake's hand before she left. "Promise me you won't take reckless missions anymore?"

Blake nodded. "I promise. I'll be sure to take a proper squad with me tomorrow."

"What's tomorrow's mission?" Weiss asked as they left the tent.

"We're infiltrating Fort Verraten to gather as much information as we can." Blake explained as they walked.

Weiss stopped in her tracks. "For Verraten? Why are you infiltrating their headquarters?"

"You don't remember? We finally found it last week. You signed off on an infiltration order just the other day." Blake continued.

"I did?" Weiss asked as they walked. "Oh, yeah. I remember now. I need more sleep." Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut.

"You really should try getting more sleep, I agree." Blake said.

"I'll see if I can pencil that into my schedule." Weiss joked.

 

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"I told you we needed to reinforce the frame to compensate for the increase in the amount of dust in our grenades." Nora complained to her hallucination. Nora was doing a bit of maintenance on Magnhild as she sat on a small fold out stool in the medical tent, surrounded by a variety of spare parts and a plethora of tools. "Look here. If we had increased the dust load anymore, Magnhild would have broken." She held up the frame and pointed to a spot near the launcher trigger mechanism.

"Okay, okay, you were right." Her hallucination admitted.

"Of course I'm right, Nori. You're an idiot." Nora spoke as if to a child. Once conversations with her hallucinatory personality became commonplace, Nora decided that a name would be necessary, as long as it was appropriately cute.

"Hey, it was a simple mistake." Nori shrugged.

"A stupid mistake, you mean." Nora shot back. "You should know better than this."

"You were the one who listened to me." Nori smiled.

"Oh, shut up." Nora groaned.

Jaune groaned on the cot in front of Nora, shifting positions in his sleep.

"You should quiet down, you might wake him up." Nori chuckled.

"He's slept long enough, there's nothing wrong with him waking up now." Nora grumbled, but she quieted down nonetheless. During the earlier battle Jaune had used his aura to protect and empower his soldiers at the cost of his own energy and had collapsed from the rapid exhaustion. He had sustained no serious injuries from the battle, though; His honor guard had done an excellent job of keeping him from harm. Nora knew that Pyrrha would normally be the one here with him, but she was ordered to lead a fresh unit of soldiers on a clean up to make sure there were no straggling Vacuoans lingering about.

"Maybe you have a point." Nori conceded. "He isn't even hurt. A couple hours of rest is plenty for someone who's just tired." Nora just grunted in agreement as she continued maintenance on her weapon, replacing screws, adding support, and replacing parts.

 

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Pyrrha hurried through the camp, attempting to rush to the medical tent as quickly as she could without making it look like she was actually rushing. She was mostly unsuccessful as she quickly shifted from power walking to jogging without noticing herself. Finally reaching the tents, Pyrrha slowed down to a walk to regain composure before entering. Pyrrha saw Velvet as she entered. She was wearing her medical officers' uniform and examining a scroll that had the medical data of the various patients she currently had in her care. Velvet directed her medical staff around this tent and the other medical tents, her medical training and instincts overcoming her dislike of crowds and unfamiliar faces.

Pyrrha waited patiently for Velvet to finish giving out her orders before approaching and greeting her friend. "Good afternoon, Velvet."

Velvet turned around. "Afternoon, Pyrrha." Velvet gave a lazy salute. "I put Jaune in his usual room." Velvet waved her hand in the vague direction of the curtained off rooms in the far side of the tent that were meant for people who weren't seriously injured but were stable and in the process of recovering.

"Thank you, Velvet." Pyrrha started towards Jaune, but Velvet stopped her.

"Um… Nora's there with him." Velvet explained.

Pyrrha's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "She is?" Nora had never visited Jaune or Pyrrha in the medical tents before, so Pyrrha was genuinely surprised. Had something happened?

"Yeah. She's been sitting by his bed while she does some repairs or something with her weapon." Velvet's eyes glanced towards the room before returning to Pyrrha. "She's been… keeping herself company."

Pyrrha understood. "Thanks for the heads up." Pyrrha thanked before making her way towards the tent. That was Velvet's way of letting Pyrrha know that Nora had been talking to herself. While it seemed Nora acknowledged that she was speaking to a hallucination created by her own mind, other people pointing it out was not something Nora tolerated, much to the dismay of the first unfortunate soldier who did so last year.

"Nora? Jaune?" Pyrrha whispered as she poked her head into the small room.

"He's still sleeping." Nora answered in a normal voice without looking up from her repairs.

"Oh, thank you, Nora." Pyrrha began.

"Hey, your lover's here." Nora jabbed Jaune hard in the ribs with two outstretched fingers.

"Wah!" he yelped as started, nearly falling off the bed. "What happened? Are we under attack?" He looked around urgently. "No?"

"No." Pyrrha chuckled. Jaune fell back into to bed with a sigh. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm better now. Just a little tired." Jaune answered as he stretched.

"I'll be off now." Nora interrupted all of a sudden. She tossed her spare parts and tools into a large bag and threw it over her shoulder.

"Wait!" Pyrrha reached out and grabbed Nora's arm before she could leave. "I'm sorry if this sounds rude or ungrateful, but… how come you came to see Jaune? You've never visited us in here before." Pyrrha sounded nervous, as she wasn't sure how Nora would react to being confronted about this event.

"Because you weren't here." Nora stated simply.

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked as she let go.

"Whenever one of you is here, the other one is too. You weren't here this time. So I came." Nora explained as if Pyrrha was daft for not understanding.

Pyrrha was shocked because she was sure that Nora had long ago abandoned any semblance of friendship with others. Jaune was also shocked, though he was less obvious about it as Pyrrha was. "…Thank you, Nora. For looking after Jaune."

Nora didn't respond or acknowledge the thanks; she just turned and left the room in silence. Pyrrha stared after her a moment, still processing what had just happened. Then she turned to Jaune. "I don't even know what to say." She admitted.

"Maybe she isn't as far gone as we thought." Jaune said with a shrug. "Maybe a small part of her still cares enough about other people to help when they need it."

"We'll just have to see. Over a year of ignoring us is a hard thing to make up for." Pyrrha grumbled. Pyrrha had taken Nora's rejection and abandonment particularly hard, and the last year had not helped matters.

"She may ignore us in person, but she always comes through for us in desperate situations." Jaune assured Pyrrha. "Remember a few months ago; when my unit got cut off in that valley?"

"Don't remind me. I thought I lost you." Pyrrha shivered at the memory.

"You would have, but Nora went out of her way to bring Hammer Company to us rather than wait for her orders." Jaune continued. "It may not be the most obvious thing, but I think she does look out for us. At least a little."

"I hope you're right." Pyrrha said. "But while I'm here- I thought you promised me you wouldn't do that anymore!" Pyrrha sat down on the bed next to her lover and smacked Jaune in the shoulder. "You know it's dangerous to expend that much aura at once. You were really hurt last time you did that."

"I'm sorry, Pyrrha. I'm being more controlled about it now, though. I'm only using it to help the soldiers on the front lines rather than all of my soldiers." Jaune reasoned.

"That's still several hundred soldiers!" Pyrrha complained. "I know you have a large pool of aura to draw from, but you don't have enough for that many other souls and bodies. You need to stop doing that."

"I just don't want to see any more of our soldiers die, Pyrrha. We've lost so many of them already, and we can't afford to lose anymore." Jaune explained. "You've seen Weiss when she thinks we aren't looking. She's worried."

Pyrrha sighed. "I know." She agreed. "We aren't doing as well as we need to do to win the war. I feel bad for Weiss- she's done the impossible with our army and it still isn't enough."

Jaune pulled Pyrrha into an embrace, and she laid herself down next to him in the bed. "I heard through the grapevine that Chairman Crane might be able to get us some reinforcements from Mistral and Atlas. That will definitely help."

Pyrrha snorted with disgust at the mention of her homeland. "I doubt Mistral will help, they're a bunch of cowards."

"The entire kingdom isn't like your parents, Pyrrha." Jaune chided gently.

"I know. I just couldn't believe they thought yelling at me to 'come home where it's safe' would be what I wanted." Pyrrha said with a sigh.

"They just wanted to protect their little girl." Jaune smiled as he poked her in the side teasingly.

Pyrrha spun in the bed and smack Jaune again playfully. "Whatever." She kissed Jaune on the nose. "Let's go back to our tent since you're awake now." Pyrrha hopped off the bed and left the room.

"Shouldn't we report our losses to Weiss and give her a status report?" Jaune asked as he stood up and followed Pyrrha.

"Already did it when I did my after action inspection." They heard Velvet call out from across the tent. "She already has all the numbers."

"Oh." Jaune still had not gotten used to Velvet's amazing sense of hearing. "Thank you, Velvet." Jaune said as he clapped Velvet on the shoulder.

"No problem." Velvet said without looking up from her scroll. "You two should get some more rest. Weiss wants us marching again tomorrow before Vacuo can retaliate." Velvet added.

"What about our wounded?" Jaune asked.

"There aren't very many, actually. But I'll be sending the ones with more serious injuries back to the rear base to heal in a small caravan. They'll be fine. Your little stunt left you with very few injured. Either they were already dead, or you healed them." Velvet explained. "And Nora didn't take any losses. You also took very few because of your surprise attack." Velvet added while looking up at Pyrrha.

"I guess a few is better than a lot." Jaune said. "Silver lining and all that."

"Certainly makes my job easier." Velvet agreed.

Pyrrha gave a quick shake of Velvet's hand in thanks. "Well, thanks for filing those reports for us, Velvet. We'll get out of your hair now."

"Yup." Velvet answered, already distracted by a report from one of her medics.

Jaune and Pyrrha left the tent and made their way through the camp. "Have you been practicing using your aura to sense things like Vimentis?" Pyrrha asked as they entered their shared tent.

"Yeah, but it's not very accurate." Jaune said. "I can kinda just sense things that are alive, and what direction they're in. And if there are a lot of living things together then I sense it as one giant blob. And not very far either."

"…so not much progress from last month?" Pyrrha laughed as she changed out of her uniform into sweats and a t-shirt and flopped down in bed.

"None at all." Jaune said with a sheepish smile. Pyrrha held out her arms to signal to Jaune to come join her in bed. "I'll be there in a second." Jaune chuckled as he changed into a matching outfit. He tied the tent flap closed behind him before lying in bed next to his girlfriend. Once he settled in on his back, Pyrrha rolled over onto Jaune and straddled him. "I think Velvet told us to rest, Pyrrha." Jaune said as he ran his hands up Pyrrha's sides.

Pyrrha leaned down to kiss Jaune's neck. "We can rest later."


	19. On the Move

"Gray, what are you doing?" Blake called out as her and her squad mates were gearing up.

"I was asked to give an inventory report by the supply battalion as we were leaving." Captain Gray replied. "It should only take a moment, Major."

"All right. Catch up once you're done." Blake ordered as she left the supply tent with the rest of the squad.

"Yes, ma'am." He said with a bow of his head. Once Major Belladonna was out of earshot, Captain Gray tapped his earpiece to activate it.

A woman's voice came through his earpiece. "Your report?"

"Major Belladonna is leaving now, ma'am. She has a full squad as support for the infiltration of Fort Verraten." Gray reported.

"How many are in the squad?" The woman asked.

"Ten, including myself." Grey said as he slid his twin battle scythes into the harness on his hips.

"Good. Thank you for your report, Captain." The woman sounded grateful.

"If I may, I wish to state for the record I disapprove of this deception." Grey said in monotone as he continued putting gear into his utility belt.

"Disapprove all you like. It is necessary for me to make sure Major Belladonna stays alive." The other voice said dismissively.

Captain Gray sighed. "I understand, Lord Commander."

"Thank you, Captain Gray." Weiss said. "I'm sorry for making you lie to Major Belladonna, for what it's worth."

"Thank you, ma'am." Gray responded.

"Good luck on your mission, Captain." Weiss cut off the call.

"Hmph." Gray straightened his harness before jogging to catch up to Major Belladonna and the rest of his squad, who were about to mount their motor bikes. These sleek bikes were fast, maneuverable, and most importantly, quiet. Perfect for covert operations, Major Belladonna and her operatives would ride these bikes until they got within a day's run of the defensive perimeter of the fort. Then, they would sneak in and commence with their business.

 

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Weiss cut off communication with Captain Gray before she sighed in relief. She felt bad for spying on Blake, but time and experience had taught Weiss that trusting Blake's word when it came to her own well being was a mistake. Blake was the kind of person to try to deal with her problems herself rather than ask for help, even if it wasn't something that a person could do on their own. And now that Blake had followed through with her promise to Weiss to bring a squad with her on missions, Weiss could focus more clearly on other tasks.

Weiss checked the time and saw that they still had an hour before they had to march for the day. It was only going to be a short distance today, but no matter the distance there was still a lot of packing and unpacking to be done. Their march would take them closer to Fort Verraten, which also meant that Blake and her infiltration team would have a shorter distance to go on their return trip. A small blessing in an otherwise dangerous decision to move closer to enemy lines. But Weiss was confident that after their victory yesterday, Vacuo's commanders would be regrouping and more hesitant to retaliate so soon.

"Lord Commander, your mail for today." One of Weiss' junior officers, Sergeant Cowen, handed Weiss a bundle of letters.

"Thank you, Samantha." Weiss said as she accepted the bundle. It looked like only three messages today, thankfully. Usually Weiss received stacks of letters at a time, ranging from requisition forms to inventory requests and everything in between. A short stack of mail today was a welcome respite. As Weiss looked at each envelope more closely, she set aside the first two as simple progress report requests from the Vytal Council, which she could order one of her subordinates do. The last was a personal letter, which surprised Weiss. This was the first time she had received a personal letter in nearly two years. An even greater surprise was the sender of the letter- Jīn Long, Yang and Ruby's father. Weiss opened the letter with trepidation.

_Dear Weiss Schnee,_

_I'm writing a letter rather than calling because I've heard you've been rather busy since we last had the chance to speak, and I wouldn't want to interrupt anything important. I hope you are healthy and safe, and Blake as well. In addition to catching up, I wanted to apologize for being out of touch for so long. I spent several months with my brother-in-law, Qrow, who was taking care of me through my depression. Once I recovered, I followed in his footsteps to try to search for my daughter, but to no avail. I feel that all this is no excuse though, so I wish to apologize._

_On a happier note, Ozpin has hired me as a teacher at Beacon, where I teach unarmed combat. The new school is magnificent, and I think that once you win the war and come home you should visit it. There is a memorial out in front now where the statues used to be, and the names of the students and teachers are etched in beautiful polished stone. Ozpin was courteous enough to add Ruby's name as well, even though she was a fugitive before she died._

_Once again, I hope that you and Blake are healthy and safe. Please, visit me once you are victorious, and I will be sure to do my best to be a better father figure to the both of you this time._

_With love,_

_Jīn Long_

Weiss smiled. Jīn was a kind man, and Weiss also regretted forgetting about him in the time she had spent training and fighting. She was also saddened to hear that he had sunk into a depression, but glad to hear that he recovered. Weiss checked the time again, and decided that she had time to spare to try to see if she could call Jīn. "I'm stepping out for a minute." She told her officers, who gave their acknowledgement as Weiss exited the tent.

Weiss opened her scroll and pulled up Jīn's contact information and dialed. It only rang for a few seconds before a blond man's face popped up on screen. "Hello?"

"Mr. Long. It's me, Weiss." She said.

"Weiss! How are you? And please, call me Jīn." He said elatedly.

"I'm doing as well as can be expected." She answered. "And you? I just got your letter. How is teaching at Beacon?"

"Oh good, I wasn't sure if the letter would ever reach you. I'm doing much better than I was, thanks to Qrow and Ozpin. Teaching is a refreshing experience, though at the beginning I was having trouble being at the school. Lots of memories, you know?" He said, smiling.

"I understand the feeling. I don't think I will go back to Beacon any time soon." Weiss said. "Sorry for not trying to contact you sooner as well. Has Blake spoken to you?"

"She wrote me a letter last year, just after you guys finished the training you did and left for the war." Jīn answered. "It sounded like she was feeling a little better, but I thought it seemed a little forced. Is she doing well?"

"She's had her ups and downs." Weiss said sadly. "She's definitely been more down than up, though. She really misses Yang."

"The poor girl. I wish I could have done a better job of being there for her." He look saddened. "Is my daughter-in-law there, by any chance? It would be nice to speak to her."

Weiss shook her head. "You just missed her, actually. She left this morning for a mission. She should be returning in just a few days, would you like me to tell her to call you?"

"If you don't mind. I think I should speak to her too, to make up for lost time." He said.

"I'm sure she would be glad to speak to you too, Jīn." Weiss assured him. "I'll be sure to let her know once she gets back from her mission."

"Thank you, Weiss. I need to get back to finishing up this week's lesson plan, but it was nice speaking to you. Stay safe!" He waved.

"Farewell, Jīn." Weiss said as she turned off her scroll. She made a note in her scroll to tell Blake about calling Jīn before returning to the tent to finish preparations for the day's march.

"Lord Commander, Major General Nikos has begun leading the vanguard for the march. Major General Arc reports he will lead the rear guard. The rest of the hunters and squads have taken their usual positions." Weiss' aide reported as she handed Weiss a report.

"And Major Valkyrie?" Weiss asked.

"Refueling and restocking inventory with Hammer Company." The aide said. "A detailed list of their requested items can be found on page three."

"Thank you." Weiss said as she flipped to the appropriate page, skimming its contents. "Begin our own preparations for the march. Set our course to follow the northern edge of the Greatwood Forest. Send word for Hammer Company to shadow us from above on the cliffs north."

"Yes, ma'am."

 

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"It's so cold." Pyrrha grumbled in displeasure. She was at the front of a column of soldiers that made up the vanguard of the army. "I hate winter."

"It will be spring soon, Major General." Colonel Sten said stoically.

"Spring is still cold. "Pyrrha complained. "Just wet instead of snowy."

"As you say, Major General." Sten answered emotionlessly.

Pyrrha just sighed. She appreciated Sten's professionalism as a soldier, but he just did not know how to comfort a person or engage in small talk. Or cared to do so. And forget about getting him to talk about anything personal, whether it's about himself or anyone else. She knew as much about him today as she did the day she met him a year ago. "Do you have word from the rest of the army? Have they left yet?"

"Major General Arc has reported that the main division is on the move and that the rear guard will be mobilizing within the hour." He reported, checking his scroll.

"No problems then?" Pyrrha asked.

"None that I can see or that have been reported." Sten said.

"All right." Pyrrha finished, dissatisfied. Trying to draw any sort of conversation out of Sten was like trying to push a mountain single handedly. It just didn't work no matter what you tried. "Well, keep me updated. I'm going to make my rounds with the soldiers while you lead the march."

"Yes, ma'am." Colonel Sten saluted with a fist to his heart as Pyrrha fell back to the soldiers.

Pyrrha spent a few minutes with each group of soldiers, either riding alongside them in their vehicles or marching beside them on foot. Simple conversations and light banter were all appreciated by both Pyrrha and the soldiers, more so the soldiers. The soldiers were all huge fans of Pyrrha and Jaune, and respected the pair greatly. By simply taking a little time to speak to the soldiers personally, Pyrrha could keep moral up and hopefully distract the soldiers from their lowered spirits. Though it wasn't exactly public knowledge, the soldiers knew the desperation of their fight against Vacuo, that despite all their victories they were still losing the war. It was all Pyrrha could do to try to keep the soldiers from giving in to despair.

 

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Jaune stretched his back, arms above his head as his second-in-command walked up to him. "The main division has just started mobilizing, sir."

"Good." Jaune said as he straightened up. "Sound the horn to move out."

"Yes, sir." He saluted. "Sound the horn!" He turned and yelled.

Another officer nodded at the order, bringing a horn up to his lips. He blew a long, clear note that rang through the camp, signaling that it was time to move out. The soldiers in the rear guard were already packed and geared up, and immediately began their march behind the main army.

Jaune himself was at the front of the column, leading the march. His scroll began beeping to indicate a call. He opened it without confirming the caller. "Yello?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Is that really how you answer a call from a superior officer?" Weiss groaned.

"My bad." Jaune stammered, expecting the call to have been from Pyrrha rather than Weiss. "What can I do for you?"

"Is the rear guard moving yet?" Weiss asked, ignoring Jaune's foolishness.

"Just started moving." Jaune reported, rolling his eyes. "You don't have to check on me every time you send out a new set of orders, you know."

"Yes, I do." Weiss grumbled.

"Micromanaging us only makes your job harder." Jaune joked. "You can trust us to carry out orders once you give them."

"Sure, just like I can trust you to not use your aura recklessly." Weiss said pointedly.

"Okay, okay, I get your point." Jaune grumbled. "Geez, you and Pyrrha must have meetings about what to scold me on." He finished with a mumble.

"What was that?" Weiss asked, not catching what Jaune had mumbled.

"Nothing, ma'am." Jaune quickly replied.

"We're not marching far today." Weiss continued. "So don't push your men too hard."

"Yes, ma'am." Jaune saluted the air in front of him lazily. Weiss ended the call without another word. "Goodbye to you too." Jaune finished, to no one in particular.

"Rough call?" Lieutenant Songen said from behind Jaune.

"Nah, just Weiss being grumpy again." Jaune said as he pocketed his scroll.

Songen laughed. "She does know best. The Lord Commander has really grown into her position. But that comes with a lot of stress on her shoulders."

"Yeah, I know." Jaune looked down at Songen walking beside him. "You're not riding today?" Songen usually rode along in a vehicle rather than marching on foot, because of her age.

"I could use the exercise." She said with a shrug. "Since I'm not young enough for combat anymore."

"Still plenty beautiful, though." Jaune said playfully.

"Don't try it, kid. Or I'll tell your girlfriend on you." Songen joked with a smile.

Jaune's smile fell off his face. "Oh, don't even joke about that. She'd beat me even if it was a joke." He pleaded.

Songen couldn't contain a hearty laugh. "Possessive, huh?"

"She prefers 'loving' over… other terms." Jaune said carefully. "We're very fond of each other." Jaune blushed.

"Ah, young love. Always so dramatic." Songen smiled. "You going to ask her to marry you soon?"

"W-what?" Jaune sputtered. "What brought this on?"

"Well, from what I hear the soldiers say, you've been together for years." Songen explained. "And I can see for myself you two obviously care for one another. So, come on. Spill the beans." She poked Jaune teasingly in the side.

Jaune blushed. "I don't know. I hope to marry her, someday. But there's a war in the way. A war that it doesn't look like we're going to win." He finished somberly.

"That's no attitude for a young man such as yourself to have." Songen said. "I'm far closer to death than you are and I've got a better attitude than that."

Jaune chuckled. "You're right. You know what, then? I'll propose to her the day the war ends. I love her, and that's all that matters, right?" Jaune asked.

"Well, now that is a plan indeed." Songen said.

 

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Weiss was correct when she said their march that day would be short, their march lasted barely four hours before they reached their new campsite for the day. The next day's march was longer, and brought them ever closer to Fort Verraten, the headquarters of Vacuo's army.

Meanwhile, Blake and her operatives finally reached the edge of Fort Verraten's defensive perimeter. "Radio silence from here on out." Blake ordered as they dismounted from and then hid their bikes in the undergrowth. "We don't know if they're looking for radio signals."

The operatives all silently acknowledged her orders as they double checked their gear to make sure they had everything. All the operatives wore and carried very similar gear- black battle fatigues made of a silk blend that was extremely quiet and durable, providing some basic protection and allowed for a full range of motion during infiltration missions, while allowing them to operate in necessary silence. In addition to the fatigues, each soldier had a utility belt filled with the necessary gear and their preferred extra bits of gear, ranging from vials of dust to climbing gear to poisons or recording devices. All in all, it was everything they needed to infiltrate and gather information.

"It's another day's jog from here." Blake said to her operatives. "Everyone ready?" Everyone nodded. "Let's go. We've got a lot of ground to cover. Gray, you have the rear. I'll take point."

After Blake's order, everyone took off through the nearby woods towards Fort Verraten. Though the 'jog' that Blake said they would be taking was more of a swift run as the group of eleven raced through the forest that was the border between Vacuo and Vytal. They ran for three hours before stopping for a ten minute break. Following this pattern, they stopped at nightfall after an entire day of running. "Gray, organize a camp while I scout a perimeter. No loud noises, no lights or fires."

"Understood." Gray said. "Up, men." The soldiers began scaling the pine trees, looking for thicker branches to set up a small hammock to rest for the night. Resting on the ground floor increased their chances of being detected, so hiding in the trees had become standard operating procedure. Blake took to the trees as well, more swiftly than her human comrades, to begin her scouting. She quickly and quietly leapt from tree to tree, using the thick branches and springboards to propel her to the next tree, then the next. The forest was thick enough with trees that Blake scouted the entire perimeter without needing to return to the ground.

Returning to the camp, Blake was satisfied to see her soldiers asleep and resting. Except for Captain Gray, who was keeping watch from the higher branches in a tree. Blake climbed her way up the tree to Gray, crouching down beside him at his perch. "No problems?" Blake asked softly.

"No, ma'am. Everyone has settled in nicely and a watch rotation has been set." Gray responded.

"Good to hear." Blake continued. "Do you have a moment?"

"Of course, Major." He said as he scanned the forest below.

Blake glanced over at Gray sneakily. "Why were you giving a report to Weiss about our mission?"

Gray froze up, staring at a single spot on the ground. It was a few moments before he finally relaxed with a ghost of a grin. "Orders, ma'am. The Lord Commander wanted me to report to her, discreetly." He looked over at Blake. "How did you know?"

Blake pointed to the ears on the top of her head, which twitched and pointed towards Gray. "I've got pretty good hearing." She grinned.

Gray chuckled, the first one Blake had ever heard from him in the last year. "I thought I had waited long enough."

"It's a common mistake." Blake smiled.

"The Lord Commander said it was to keep you alive." Gray continued.

"She does have a tendency to worry." Blake said as she watched the stars above. "She worries that she will lose me, like she lost the rest of our team."

"Your team?" Gray asked. He knew little about the schools of hunters; the only knowledge that he had was the bit of combat training that Blake had given him over the last year to improve his skills.

"I've never told you about my life before this, huh?" Blake realized. "I went to Beacon Academy, one of the most prestigious schools for hunters in the world. At initiation, we get paired up with a partner, and then with another pair of partners, to form a team of four. These other three people are your teammates and roommates for the four years you're there, so naturally you become close." She explained.

"And the Lord Commander was your partner?" Gray asked.

Blake chuckled. "Oh, heavens no. I don't think that would have worked out at all, especially in the beginning. Even being teammates was bad enough." Gray raised his eyebrows questioningly. "She had some… extreme views on faunus. In the beginning." Gray nodded in understanding. "My partner was a girl named Yang Xiao Long. She was a beautiful, blond powerhouse of a huntress. Weiss' partner was Yang's younger sister, Ruby Rose."

Gray could see the love in Blake's eyes when she said Yang's name, something that he had never seen before in his commander. "A powerhouse?" He asked. "Even stronger than you?" Gray had seen Blake fight, and had a hard time imagining someone outfighting the faunus.

"Much stronger than me. Imagine Nora, but faster and with more technical skill and with shotguns on her arms instead of a hammer." Blake smiled at the mental imagery her vague description evoked.

"Sounds terrifying." Gray shuddered. Major Valkyrie frightened him on a visceral level.

"She was so strong. When we were defending Beacon, and later escaping, she fought so hard. And when it looked like we weren't going to make it, she sacrificed herself to make sure we got away." Blake was staring wistfully into the sky, connecting stars in her mind to make her own constellations. "And then after we escaped, her sister broke down and killed some people. Then she went on the run, and died alone in some forest. It wasn't a fate either one of them deserved." Blake finished sadly.

"I'm sorry for your losses." Gray said. "Your partner sounds like an impressive woman."

"She really was." Blake giggled at a memory. "You should've seen how she proposed to me. It was a disaster. She had the whole day planned, and none of it went like it was supposed to." Blake smiled fondly as she recalled the events of that day. "What about you? You have someone waiting for you at home?"

Gray stayed quiet for a few moments. "Not anymore, no."

"I see." Blake said in understanding. She reached into her utility belt and pulled out a flask, then took off the lid and filled it with the clear liquid inside. She handed the small cap that doubled as a cup to Gray and kept the flask for herself. She held up that flask. "A toast to the ones we lost."

Gray tapped his little cup against Blake's flask before downing his shot while Blake drank a swig from the flask. Gray smacked his lips, eyes narrowing in confusion as he looked into the cup. "It's just water."

"Well, yeah. No drinking on the job." Blake deadpanned. "We've got work in the morning."


	20. Costly Answers

The walnut door that Blake had become so accustomed to seeing every night began to blur as she started to wake up. She rubbed her eyes as she slowly emerged from sleep, curled up on a thick branch far above the ground. As she blinked away the blurriness left over from her few hours of sleep, she could hear someone down below quietly moving through the leaves. Blake peeked down to see Captain Gray patrolling the floor below, moving from tree to tree to rouse the other operatives from their sleep. The two operatives on last watch were already wide awake, having packed away their things hours before. Blake watched with lazy, predatory eyes as the operatives Gray already woke up began folding up their rope hammocks and replacing them in their packs, and then pulling out dried rations for a morning meal.

Once she saw that all her men were awake, Blake reached into her own utility belt and pulled out some dried and salted meat of her own. "Mmm." She was one of the few who enjoyed the dried rations, mostly because she had substituted the usual beef that was issued with dried fish that she has purchased herself with her soldier's salary. Blake enjoyed a tasty treat before a hard day's work.

Gray was about to scale the tree Blake was in to wake her, but Blake called out to stop him and save him the trouble. "I'm already awake, Captain. Just make sure everyone is ready in five."

Gray stopped and took his hands off the branches he was about to use to pull himself up. "Yes, ma'am." He turned to quietly tell the other soldiers to make sure they were all ready to go when Blake ordered. Even after everyone was awake, the atmosphere was a quiet one because of their proximity to Fort Verraten. They were only an hour's walk away from its walls, so loud noises and making their presence known was generally out of the question and a bad idea.

After the five minutes was up, Blake silently dropped down from the tree and landed among her gathered soldiers with a whisper. "Ready everyone?" She asked quietly. Her soldiers nodded. "Captain? Please, do the honors." Blake had never done a mission with a group before, so she wasn't as familiar with group tactics as Gray, who had led many squads on missions.

Gray nodded. "Form four groups of two, one group of three." Gray ordered. "We split up once we get inside the compound and search the different areas. Communications, Records, Barracks, Command Center, you know the drill. Standard procedure. And if you're compromised, break radio silence and send everyone else the alert. Only the one compromised, though. One of us being compromised doesn't mean all of us have been discovered." Gray amended.

"Jessica, you're with me." Blake said. Sergeant Jessica Kim nodded. Her record had been promising, and Blake didn't want to take Gray and keep all the more experienced operatives in a single group. Spread the skill around, if you will. "Let's move out. Good luck everyone."

With that, Blake and her operatives began making their way towards Fort Verraten. They leap-frogged from cover to cover, from tree to foliage to rock to tree again, moving ever closer to the fort. Once they were in the shadow of the fort's stone walls, Blake raised a fist to signal everyone to stop. "I'm going up. Wait for my signal." Everyone retreated back into the underbrush just as Blake crouched and then leapt nearly halfway up the thirty foot high walls. She caught some cracks and grooves with her fingertips and toes of her shoes and latched onto the wall, allowing her to hang from the wall. With predatory agility, Blake began carefully scurrying up the wall to the top.

Blake dangled from the edge of the crenellations, peeking her head over them and looking for any patrolling guards. She spied only one soldier on the wall who was lazily patrolling back and forth, and Blake felt disgusted at the poor man. He clearly wasn't paying attention, just staring at the ground underneath him and walking back and forth, taking the same number of steps each time, obviously on auto-pilot. A sentry this unobservant deserved whatever happened to him.

As the sentry returned and walked past Blake's dangling figure, she pulled herself up the wall and stood up behind him. With a silent sigh of annoyance, Blake reached up and grabbed the man's head and twisted his head around one hundred and eighty degrees with an air of annoyance. There was a loud cracking noise as the spinal cord snapped and the unfortunate soldier dropped and fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. He twitched and spasmed on the ground as the life left him. Blake turned around and left the man on the floor of the wall, pulling small mirror out of her pocket. She used the mirror to reflect the morning light down at her operatives to signal them, who then emerged from their hiding places down below.

Two of the operatives pulled ropes out of their packs, attaching a hook to the end of each one. They then spun the hooks around and around for momentum before throwing them up to Blake, who caught one hook in each hand. She secured the hooks to the wall before waving back down at the operatives to begin ascending the ropes two by two as Blake kept watch. They climbed up quickly, aware that each moment exposed increased their chances of getting caught. Once all eleven of the operatives were at the top of the wall, they scanned the interior of the fort to try to get a general idea of the layout of the place.

"We're in luck." Blake said while she was crouching. "Simple layout." The compound was indeed simply laid out, with minimalistic, square, concrete buildings and few windows. Most of the buildings were wide and squat, only a single story tall. The one exception was a three story building in the dead center of the camp, which seemed to have been designed to be slightly more aesthetically pleasing than the rest of the camp. There were far more broad windows, some of them covering entire rooms to let in the winter morning sunlight. With her keen eyes, Blake could even see into some of the windows from this distance.

Gray counted the buildings. "Six buildings, five teams." He observed. "Each team will take a building. My team of three will take two of them." Gray started to divvy up the building between the squads.

"I want the main building." Blake said before Gray could begin. "I can move through it more quickly than any other team."

"What about me?" Sergeant Kim asked.

"I can secure pathways and place ropes as needed." Blake assured her.

"Fine by me, then." Sergeant Kim agreed.

During this exchange, Gray had finished assigning the other operative pairs buildings to infiltrate as well. "Let's move in during the morning shift change. We'll wait until then. Shouldn't be more than an hour."

 

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Nora looked down at the army below her from her position on the cliffs above them. From her vantage point, Nora could see how small their army was compared to what it used to be. She could remember when their army was nearly four times as large as it was now. It was a sad sight. "So many people lost."

Nori bounced back and forth from one foot to the other beside Nora. "It's getting closer!" She sang.

"What is?" Nora asked distractedly.

"The end of the war." Nori answered, still singing.

"Of course it's getting closer." Nora said. "That's how time works. It isn't like we can get farther away."

"You know what I mean." Nori said as she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah." Nora agreed. Nora did know what Nori was talking about. They couldn't hold out much longer against Vacuo. "I know."

"Commander." A voice said from behind Nora.

Nora recognized her second-in-command without needing to look at the source. "Yes, Lieutenant Vild?"

"Good morning. Would you care for some breakfast?" Lieutenant Vild held up a packet of dried meat. In Hammer Company, formalities were mostly unnecessary within the group. Hammer Company and Nora shared a common disdain for formalities and professionalism on the battlefield, and only bothered with them when it came to reporting to Weiss or other officers of higher rank outside of Hammer Company, which wasn't very often.

"Sure." Nora accepted the packet, pulling out a strip of meat and chewing on it absently. Most soldiers didn't like the taste of the dried food that they used while on the move, but it didn't bother Nora. She didn't taste what she ate. Hadn't ever since Beacon. Just didn't seem important enough to notice, these days. "Anything to report?"

"Lord Commander Schnee wants us to stay up on the cliffs in case there's combat today." He reported. "Just as a precaution."

"No surprise." Nora said. Giving Hammer Company the high ground in case of an attack was a sound decision and a smart move. "Set up a patrol and get communications up with the main army."

"Yes, ma'am." Vild answered.

Nora sat on the edge of the cliff, dangling her feet off of the edge and swinging them back and forth lazily. "Vild." She called out to the retreating soldier, who stopped and turned around at Nora's voice. "Does it look like something is wrong with our army?"

"We're missing a lot of soldiers, if that's what you mean." He replied jokingly.

Nora tapped her chin with a piece of jerky while she chewed, thinking. "Not that." She said. Nora stared at the mass of soldiers below her in the fields below. "It just seems like something is different."

"Maybe you're just anxious?" He suggested with a grin. Nora turned a glare on him. "Joking, boss." He held his hands up in surrender.

Nora just sighed at her soldier's antics. "Call Weiss. Tell her to be careful. I have a bad feeling about today."

"A bad feeling, ma'am?" Vild asked curiously.

"A bad feeling." Nora said with finality.

"You got it, boss." Vild gave a lazy salute as he walked away.

Nora continued staring off into distance. She started as she felt something cold touch the tip of her nose. Nora brushed the coldness away, and looked up into the sky. "Snow." She observed. It was a surprise to have snow so near to spring.

"And rain." Nori added, also looking up at the clouds above. "A bad omen."

"How so?"

"I dunno. I just remembering hearing some superstition that rain and snow at the same time was a bad omen somewhere, a long time ago." Nori shrugged.

"Sure seems like it." Nora agreed as she stood up and walked back to her tent to get out of the elements.

 

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"Lord Commander, a message from Major Valkyrie's unit." Weiss heard the approaching voice of the communications officer. The young man responsible for communicating with Hammer Company walked up to Weiss, who was prepping a table for a holographic map before the interruption.

"What is it?" Weiss asked without looking up.

"Major Valkyrie ordered Lieutenant Vild to tell you that she 'has a bad feeling about today', ma'am." The officer reported.

"A bad feeling about today, huh? That's helpful." Weiss said sarcastically. "Thank you, officer." Weiss said as the officer saluted and left. "A bad feeling. What am I supposed to do about that?" Weiss grumbled to herself. Weiss ignored Nora's warning and continued to set up her holographic map, grunting in satisfaction as it powered up and a three dimensional image of the entire area around them popped up with the appropriate markers for each unit. Weiss used her hands to rotate the image so she could see the dots that showed Hammer Company's position on the cliffs above the rest of the camp. She just sighed as she stared at the pink dots. Weiss couldn't get Nora's warning out of her head, as irrational and as factually useless as it was. She pressed a button on her scroll. "Colonel Sten, I'd like to see you in the command tent, please."

"Right away, ma'am." He responded.

Weiss watched her junior officers set up their stations as she waited for Sten, who arrived promptly, as always. Sten saluted and then stood at attention. "You called for me, Lord Commander?"

"At ease, Colonel." Weiss said with a gesture for him to relax. Colonel Sten assumed a more relaxed position. "I want you to lead some soldiers into Greatwood Forest." Weiss spun the map and pointed at the woods to the south of their camp.

"You don't wish to move all our men into the cover of the forest?" Sten asked.

"Remember what happened last time we tried that?" Weiss said pointedly.

"Ah, yes. My apologies. I had forgotten." Sten said with a respectful nod of his head. Early on in the war, Weiss had employed that very tactic in a different forest to the northeast, with disastrous results. Vacuo's commanders had decided that pursuing Weiss' army into the forest was far too risky, and decided to bombard the forest with airstrikes and artillery before setting fire to it. They barely escaped with their lives, and had to retreat for miles right after to try to recover.

"So we won't be bringing all of our men into the forest. You'll be leading a thousand men into the forest to set up a separate camp for scouting and to hide your location for a flanking maneuver." Weiss explained. "As a precautionary measure."

"Yes, ma'am. When should I move out?" Sten asked.

"Now, before the weather gets any worse. Take the Fifth Rifle Battalion, there should be enough well equipped soldiers there. You won't have air support, either. Greatwood Forest is to thick and the trees too tall." Weiss typed some orders into her scroll, sending them off so the Fifth Rifle Battalion so they knew that Colonel Sten was coming.

"Understood, Lord Commander. I will mobilize my forces immediately." Colonel Sten saluted and bowed out of the tent.

As Sten exited, Jaune and Pyrrha entered the tent. "Colonel." They greeted. Colonel Sten just saluted as he continued on his way. "Hello, Weiss." Pyrrha waved.

"Hello, you two." Weiss returned the greeting. "You look cold." Jaune and Pyrrha were covered in a dusting of snow, on top of being camp from the rain.

"I'm freezing." Pyrrha agreed as she shivered and rubbed her arms for warmth.

"Come here." Jaune pulled Pyrrha against himself and wrapped his arm around her. Pyrrha burrowed her shoulder and as much of her body as she could into him appreciatively.

"Thank you." Pyrrha accepted a towel from a passing junior officer under Weiss' command. "Some weather, huh?" She said as she rubbed her hair dry.

"It will make marching miserable for a while, at the very least." Weiss agreed. "At least it isn't storming. We can set up camp as usual, I'll make sure to order everyone to set up weather proofing as much as we can. We may be stuck here for a while."

"At least it isn't windy." Pyrrha added. "Between the cliffs and the forest, we're pretty well protected. Unless the wind changes direction, anyways."

"What about Hammer Company?" Jaune asked Weiss. "They're exposed to the elements on top of the cliffs."

"They'll be fine." Weiss assured Jaune. "They have sufficient supplies to set up a passably weather proof camp. They're all too tough and crazy to get sick, anyways."

"She has a point." Pyrrha chuckled. "And Velvet's become scarily good at using her aura medically anyways, so I'm sure they'll be fine."

"Thank for the compliment." Velvet mumbled as she entered the tent, her hair soaked. Once she was safely inside the tent and away from the rain and snow, Velvet shook her ears dry. Jaune had to suppress a giggle when he saw that Velvet's ears looked very poofy after the shake, the short hairs standing on end. Pyrrha was kind enough to temporarily separate herself from the warmth that was Jaune to help Velvet smooth down her hair and ears. "Thanks."

"So what brings you here, Velvet?" Weiss asked.

"Just getting out of the rain and seeing if you need anything done that I can do. There aren't any injuries that I need to deal with, so I have a bit of free time." Velvet shrugged.

"Free time is rare, why don't you spend it relaxing or something?" Jaune suggested.

Velvet shifted bashfully, lifting one foot slightly and tapping it on the ground. "There really isn't anything I'd like to do since…"

"Ah." Pyrrha said when Velvet didn't finish her thought. Velvet wasn't sure what to do in her free time without Blake around. "Why don't you stay in here with us, then? I'm sure we all have a little free time now because of the weather." Pyrrha looked at Weiss for confirmation.

Weiss checked the time and then looked at the map in front of her. "I don't have any urgent business, now. Just a few sets of orders to review, but I can do that and talk at the same time." Weiss pointed at the corner of the tent, where a bunch of folding stools were stacked. "Why don't you all grab a seat?"

Everyone did so, pulling their seats up near Weiss' seat while she grabbed a portable heater. "Do we have a generator for that?" Jaune asked. "I thought they were all being kept by the Supply Battalion for rationing."

"I have another way to power it, actually." Weiss said, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a small bag with a drawstring, the one that Professor Ozpin had given her as a parting gift more than a year ago. She opened the bag and fished out a vial containing a red dust crystal, and turned it over into her hand. "I had almost forgotten I had these." Weiss commented as she popped open a cover on the side of the heater. She slid the red dust crystal inside of it, allowing a satisfied grin on her face when it clicked into place. She replaced the cover and flipped the switch, the portable heater turning on with a satisfying hum. "There." Weiss said as she set it in the center of the tent so that the other junior officers could benefit from it as well.

"Not as adventure-y as a campfire, but I'll take it." Jaune said.

"I'm not going to complain." Pyrrha said as she and Velvet scooted closer to the heater for warmth. Velvet vigorously nodded her agreement.

 

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Blake was slowly crawling through an air duct in the northern section of the main building with Sergeant Kim following close behind her when she smelled a change in the air. "Hold up." Blake ordered in a whisper. Quiet movements and speech were necessary in the metal ducts, where the smallest noise could carry a long distance and reveal their presence.

"Do we have to use the ducts? It's really crowded in here." Jessica Kim asked softly. The sergeant had about the same build as Blake, but had a harder time navigating the narrow duct work because she wasn't as flexible as Blake was. Kim also had the unfortunate disadvantage of not being able to see in the dark like Blake, so she had to keep close and make sure that she was always close enough to reach out and touch Blake to confirm her location, or at least hear Blake move. But hearing Blake move was immensely difficult, so Kim had to rely on touch.

"Until we can find a promising room, yes." Blake whispered in response. "But I think we may have found a place." The change in smell that Blake's sensitive nose detected was the smell of paper and metal, which usually meant filing cabinets and packets of orders if past missions were any indication. Blake followed the scent for a couple more turns in the ducts and found a vent overlooking the room that she had smelled. "In here." She whispered. Blake loosened the vent grill carefully, then popped it off and lifted it into the duct work with her and Kim. "I'll drop in first."

"Roger that." Kim said in affirmation.

Blake dropped into the room without a sound, crouching low to the ground and keeping a wary eye on the door to make sure no one was approaching. "Clear." She called out softly to the vent above her. Sergeant Kim lowered himself into the room, then let go of the vent edge and dropped into the room after Blake. The room was fairly small, more a generously sized walk-in storage closet than an actual room. Tall walls were lined with filing cabinets, all labeled with various topics and organized alphabetically within those topics. "Start on that side, I'll search over here." Blake ordered. "Use your scroll to take pictures of the information we need."

Blake started with a cabinet titled 'Accounts' since it was the first one on her left. She rifled through the files, pulling out ones that looked like they had some useful information. Blake flipped through the pages of the files, using her scroll to snap pictures of the information on the pages. "This is weird." Blake commented a few minutes into her snooping.

"What is, commander?" Sergeant Kim replied from her side of the room as she snapped off more pictures.

"All their expenses are towards the same two companies. They buy all their military supplies from one company- food, first aid, uniforms, and all that sort of stuff. And their weapons, robots, and vehicles they get from one other company." Blake explained.

"Is that unusual?" Kim asked.

"I think so. We get all our supplies from a bunch of different sources." Blake snapped some more pictures. "And I literally only see these two companies. I wonder what Weiss will make of it."

Sergeant Kim had no response, and continued making her way through the paperwork and snapping pictures where relevant with Blake. They found all sorts of useful information such as troop deployments, training regimens, maps, and inventories. All things that Weiss would love to get her hands on, even if it wasn't completely up to date. Knowing your enemy's habits was always useful.

"Kim, fix everything up, quick! I hear someone coming this way." Blake whispered urgently. Sergeant Kim quickly replaced the file she was searching and silently closed the file drawer. "Here, up!" Blake crouched down under the vent opening with her hands linked together. Kim walked up and placed one leg on Blake's linked hands, then allowed Blake to use her aura enhanced strength to throw her up to the vent. Kim caught both sides of the vent with her hands and then fluidly pulled herself in. Blake was right behind her, having leapt the distance herself. Blake slipped into the vent and then hurriedly replaced the vent grill just as the door opened and a young man in the standard green Vacuo officer's uniform strolled into the room.

He flicked on the lights, humming a tune as he walked over to the cabinets labeled 'Deployment Orders' and opened the top drawer. He sorted through some of the papers before pulling out an empty file and sliding the packet of orders in his hands into the folder. He nonchalantly pushed the drawer closed as he turned away and left the room, turning off the lights behind him. Blake and Kim stayed quiet for an extra minute as they waited to make sure the coast was clear. "Let's drop in and finish." Blake said, removing the vent grill once more and dropping back into the room.

"Yes, ma'am." Sergeant Kim replied.

Finishing up their investigation took only another fifteen minutes. When Blake finally reached the end of her section, she went back to the file cabinet that the soldier had dropped the newly filed orders into and pulled them out. "Let's see what this new batch of orders is." Blake muttered. She scanned through the files and processed what she was learning. "Oh, how interesting." Blake noted. "It's orders for an escort for some bigwigs from their suppliers. The general is having a meeting with the CEOs of their suppliers soon. How lucky for us."

"Are we going to go look for it and listen in, then?" Kim asked.

"We sure are. It says the meeting is on the third floor." Blake read.

"What floor are we on?" Sergeant Kim tried to count the number of ups and downs they had taken through the ventilation. Not being able to see where she was moving in the duct work had messed with her sense of direction.

"We're on the second floor." Blake answered. "Did I take you through too many turns? Blake chuckled.

"Just a few too many to keep track of in the dark." Kim said with a smile.

"Well, let's get out of here and see what we can do about finding that meeting. It starts in…" Blake consulted her watch, "ten minutes. We can make that, easy. Up you go." Blake tossed Kim up into the vents the same way she had earlier when they had to hide. Blake jumped back into the vent after her. "Let's try this direction." Blake whispered. Sergeant Kim nodded and followed.

Blake's guess proved fruitful, and she found an upward bend in the duct that looked like it went up to the third floor ceilings. "I'll go place a rope, wait here." Blake ordered. Kim could shimmy up the duct like Blake, but she was far slower at doing so in the dark and confined space so it was quicker for Blake to just climb the duct herself and then let down a rope to make it simpler to climb up. With her ability to see in the dark, her natural agility and dexterity, and her training under Cheshire, Blake scaled the fifteen vertical feet of duct work in a flash.

Only a couple seconds later, a rope dropped down to dangle in front of Sergeant Kim, who was groping about in the darkness for it. It only took a few seconds for the sergeant to climb the rope in the darkness. "Thanks." Kim whispered as she reeled up the rope from below her while Blake moved ahead a few feet to peer through another vent.

Rope securely wound up, Kim crawled to catch up to Blake and handed her the rope to replace in her pack. The room she was looking in was empty of anything except a few crates and racks of what appeared to be cleaning supplies. "Not this room." Blake said while she continued past this vent towards the next dim source of broken light streaming in through a vent farther down. Blake looked down in this second vent and was greeted with a view of an empty bathroom. "Not this one either." Before they could move on though, they heard the bathroom door open.

"Yes, yes, I'll meet you in the conference room." A grumbling, watery voice said to someone outside the in the hallway. The speaker was some obese, balding man with very many chins and a badly fitted suit. "I just need to relieve myself first."

Blake could hear some light chatter before the door closed, drifting off to her right and farther down the hallway. Blake turned away from the vent to Kim, and pointed farther down the duct in the direction that the voices went. If they could follow the vent farther down, they would eventually find the room the others had gone to, which seemed a promising lead on the meeting. The pair of operatives stealthily crept further down the ducts until they could hear the voices again, this time in a room. As Blake approached the next vent, she could hear voices conversing in the room below, making small talk as they waited for the man in the bathroom. Blake moved to the opposite side of the vent so that Sergeant Kim could listen in as well. With the little bit of light, Kim could see Blake clearly enough to see her point to her pocket containing her scroll. Kim nodded in understanding and pulled out her scroll and hit the 'record' button and held it back above the vent so she could catch what the people in the room were saying as well as get a bit of video so that maybe they could identify them later.

"Must we have these meetings so often?" An elderly, balding man with snow white hair asked. He was of average height, but stocky and pudgy, with wrinkles on his face and age spot on his skin. He was seated at the head of an ornate thick, rectangular, wooden table with eight seats surrounding it.

"A meeting once every two weeks isn't very often, General Trus." A middle aged man in a crisp clean suit said sharply. He was sitting across from the old baling man, and had the appearance of someone who was desperately trying to appear younger than he actually was. His hair was dyed an unnatural looking glossy black, his face showed signs of cosmetic surgery, his build indicated he spent an unnecessarily large amount of time at the gym. All in all, a man with too much money who put too much stock in appearances. Not to mention a poor sense of fashion and taste in appearance, in Blake's opinion.

"It is when it distracts me from my other duties." The man who was apparently General Trus answered. "I'm fighting a war." Trus gestured at the two soldiers flanking his chair to leave the room, which they did. The only people remaining in the room now were the general and the middle aged businessman, who were then joined by the fat man from the bathroom and a retinue of three men that looked to be bodyguards in black suits. He sat next to the middle aged man. That made six people in room, by Blake's count as she watched the three private security guards take up positions around the room. Based on the orders she had seen earlier, that would make these two the CEOs of the military suppliers she had seen earlier.

"You aren't even on the front lines. You sit here in this building all the time." The fat man said before he coughed into a handkerchief. "How busy could a man like you be?"

"I still have to issue orders." General Trus replied defensively.

"Sure you do." The middle aged man responded sarcastically. "You said you had something you wanted to talk to us about anyways."

"Yes." The General cleared his throat. "I want out. I feel our deal has gone on long enough."

The other two men laughed uproariously. The fat man slapped his hand on the table as he laughed and the middle aged man clapped. "What, like you said you wanted to a three months ago?" The fat man said.

"And again two months before that!" the middle aged man added. "You can't get out of the deal, you're in too deep."

"You agreed to this war, General. Whether you like it now or not. If I recall, you were quite enthusiastic at the time." The fat man said.

Blake was lost. Agreed to a war? What did that mean?

"I'm not being paid enough to keep throwing soldiers to their death!" Truss yelled.

"You got paid enough to use some mercenaries to kill off an entire small town of your own people." The middle aged man countered. "And you got paid enough to agree to blame Vytal and start a false war. And only now you say you aren't getting paid enough?"

"I-" the general started.

"Let me guess." The fat man interrupted with a cough. "You want more money?" The general stayed quiet and just glared at the CEO. "You do!" He laughed again.

"We are already paying you thirty percent of what we make off of what the army buys from us. We aren't paying you anymore. War time economy is good money for us, but not good enough to warrant paying you more than that." The middle aged man said.

Blake was stunned into silence. This entire war was started because some businessmen wanted to make more money? It sounded like they managed to bribe the general of the Vacuoan army into betraying his own people for money, too. They paid off mercenaries to kill a village of people, blamed Vytal, attacked Vytal, and started a war? Blake just couldn't believe it. That people could be so greedy, so cowardly, was beyond Blake's understanding. Even people like Cardin Winchester weren't as bad as the people she was now watching.

"The war wasn't supposed to last this long!" General Trus yelled. "They were supposed to be beaten months ago, but those stubborn bastards keep fighting us off."

"It isn't our fault you're inept." The fat man said. "And plus… longer war means more money for you. You can hardly complain about that. Once the war ends we'll be extremely wealthy men."

These men were throwing away lives for money, knowingly and willingly. Blake couldn't see her own expression, but Sergeant Kim could. And Sergeant Kim was more frightened than she had ever been in her life. Blake's expression was pure fury and rage, her eyes narrowed and her canines bared. Sergeant Kim tried to get Blake's attention without making any noise, but Blake wasn't in a state of mind to notice.

"The money is nice, but-" The general began.

But he was interrupted by a roar of unbridled, animalistic rage. Blake ripped open the vent under her, not bothering with any attempt at stealth and tearing the metal duct asunder. Sergeant Kim tried to grab Blake to retreat, but Blake was far too fast for her. Blake lunched herself at General Trus and landed on the table in front of him with a tremendous impact the cracked the thick wood under her feet. Blake was too far consumed in rage to even bother drawing her weapon. The general barely had time to blink before Blake wrapped her arms around his head. "You killed her!" Blake screamed. "Coward! Die!"

Blake wrenched her arms around and twisted her body away from the general. There was a snapping of bone accompanied by a sickening tearing and ripping noise as Blake's vicious attack tore General Trus' head from his body. The now headless corpse convulsed and spasmed as it sprayed blood everywhere, painting the table underneath him red. Blake threw the head aside as glared daggers at the two businessmen, who only now had the presence of mind to jump to their feet to try to escape. "Guards!" The fat man yelled. "Assassin!"

Both of the businessmen tried to flee the room as the three security guards closed in on Blake to attack her. The first one tried to tackle Blake, but she just lashed out with her booted foot and crushed his throat. He collapsed to the ground, gurgling as he struggled for air. The others were too slow to catch up to Blake, who flowed past the guard she killed and dashed at the fat businessman. He threw up his arms in a vain attempt to defend his chest and face. Just as Blake stopped in front of him, she drew Gambol Shroud in a flash and whipped it horizontally across, cutting a deep gash into the underside of the fat businessman's bulging stomach.

The man froze in place, terrified and not yet registering the wound. It only took another second for his mind to realize what had happened though, as he desperately reached down with his hands to try and catch his innards as they fell out of his body. Blake spun around again to confront the two guards left alive, who were staring at Blake with horror. In the back of her mind Blake registered that she must've been a terrifying sight, killing three men in only a couple seconds and being covered in the blood that had sprayed out of the general's body. It wasn't enough to jolt Blake out of her fury, though. She was coherent enough to register that the two guards were falling to the ground, dead, with throwing knives in their necks.

Blake just accepted that the guards were dead, uncaring of the cause of their death. Her brief distraction had given the middle aged businessman time to flee into the hallway and call on more soldiers. The two soldiers that were guarding the general before he ordered them to leave rushed back into the room, pistols drawn and ready to fire. Blake drew the cleaver that normally acted as a sheath to the katana in her left hand, holding it in a reverse grip. She used her blades to deflect the initial oncoming bullets before diving to her right and under the table.

The two soldiers moved to reposition for a better shot, but Blake used her strength, fueled by her anger, and lifted the table from below and threw it at the soldiers and crushed them against the wall. "Major!" Sergeant Kim called down from the vent above. "We need to go! This isn't the time!"

Blake turned to look at her subordinate, eyes still narrowed in fury. "I'll kill them all." Blake hissed just before she dashed out the door, cutting down the soldiers who were running to stop her. They didn't even slow her down as she hunted for the last businessman who had fled.

 

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"Oh, no." Sergeant Kim said to herself as she looked and the bloodstained, corpse strewn room below her. The fat man had just died, the shock and blood loss from Blake's evisceration too much for him. Her commanding officer had gone insane. What was she supposed to do? She had used two of her knives to keep the two security guards from attacking Blake, but she had hardly seemed to notice before running off. Jessica Kim didn't know much about Blake Belladonna, but it was obvious that she had some deep scars and pains that had finally gotten to be too much after this discovery about the reasons behind the war.

So, what was she supposed to do? Help her commanding officer fight? Kim knew that she would be worse than useless in a fight alongside Blake. She wasn't a good fighter in the first place, and if she tried to jump in and help Blake she was more likely to get in the way than to be any benefit. So again, what was she supposed to do?

It was an easy choice, but a hard decision. She couldn't help Blake, but she could help the rest of her team and the war effort. Kim tapped the communicator in her ear. "Mission compromised. Breaking radio silence. I repeat, mission compromised." There was no response, but that was to be expected as per their protocols. "Sorry, Major." Kim said to herself as she turned and fled the building, snatching up her scroll with the recording of the conversation as she left.

Fleeing the fort was surprisingly easy. Blake's rampage was distracting the soldiers, who were searching for her as she tracked down the focus of her rage. Kim encountered no resistance as she ran back into the forest as fast as she could. The others should have been fleeing the fort as well, if they hadn't finished their missions already and were waiting at the rendezvous point. As it turned out, Sergeant Kim arrived last alongside Captain Gray and his group. "Kim. Where's the Major?" He scanned the forest behind her and then above them, wondering if the commander was in the trees.

"She's still in the fort." Kim panted. "She compromised the mission."

"I heard the call, but I didn't think it was her." Gray said. "What happened?"

Kim pulled out her scroll, and pulled up the recording of the meeting. Gray watched in emotionless silence as he and the rest of the squad listened to the recording. Everyone reacted in their own way- disbelief, anger, and everything in between. Except for Gray, who just accepted the information emotionlessly. "I understand that this is terrible information, but why did the Major attack them? I don't think any of us would have flown off the handle at hearing this." Kim asked.

Gray stared at Kim, silently weighing whether or not to tell the squad what he knew. In the end, he figured it wouldn't hurt. "Her lover was killed in the initial sneak attack by Vacuo." He explained. "And I imagine she's not pleased to hear the reasons behind it."

"We have to help her then!" One of the other operatives said fervently. He made to turn back to the fortress, a few others turning to leave with him.

"No." Gray ordered. "We'll either get in her way or die ourselves. Neither option is desirable. We leave now, and make for base camp as fast as we can." The other soldiers could only stare at Gray. "None of us want this. But we need to."

"We understand." The soldiers finally agreed.

"Back to camp, as fast as we can." Gray ordered.

 

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Weiss stood up and stretched her back. The folding stools were convenient to have, but they were not the most comfortable things. "My back aches." She complained. The tent was nice and warm from the portable heater, which had been going for the past few hours. As a result, the group had been reluctant to find a reason to leave and just chose to sit together and chat about whatever they felt like.

"It's because you hunch when you sit." Pyrrha said.

"I'm not so old that it matters." Weiss grumbled.

"Lord Commander, we have a call from Captain Gray. He says it is urgent." One of the communications officers reported.

"From Captain Gray?" Weiss asked.

"Isn't he on a mission?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, with Blake." Weiss answered, worried. "I expected radio silence from them until tonight. If it's urgent, something must have happened." Weiss waved the junior officer over. "Connect me on my scroll." Weiss pulled out her scroll and accepted the transfer, putting the call on speaker. "Captain, report."

"Major Belladonna has compromised the mission, Lord Commander." Gray reported without hesitation.

"She would never do that!" Velvet interrupted.

"She had a good reason, Captain Scarlatina." Gray responded. "I'm sending you a data packet with all the information we retrieved this time. Watch the video attached at the top of the list."

Weiss continued to question the Captain while they waited for the data packet. "Where are you?"

"We're riding back on our vehicles as fast as we can. We had to call the mission early." He explained, not needing to explain again that Blake was the reason for that. "Major Belladonna is still in the fort. We had to leave her behind."

"What!" Velvet yelled.

"Hush, Velvet. We shouldn't worry yet, Blake is strong. Let's watch the video." Weiss said as she loaded the video. Once it loaded, she hit play. The conversation on screen was boring at first, but as it progressed everyone's eyes widened in disbelief and surprise. Weiss herself was furious and filled with disbelief at what she was hearing. Three greedy men started a war? Was that really all it took? When the video ended, Weiss quietly asked Gray a question. "How did Blake compromise the mission after hearing this?"

"… She's trying to kill those three. Sergeant Kim says she got two of them and is hunting the third, and killing anyone who gets in her way." Gray answered.

"Damn it." Weiss threw her hands up in the air. "Okay. Get back as fast as you can." Weiss turned to everyone else gathered. "First- No one is to tell Nora about this. Not yet."

"What?" Jaune asked, surprised. "Why not?"

"Because she'll react the same way as Blake, but worse." Weiss explained. "So don't say anything until I can figure out a better way to release the information, and…wait, where is Velvet?" Weiss looked around the tent.

Everyone else looked around as well. "She's not here." Pyrrha observed. "This isn't good. Velvet!" Pyrrha called out, poking her head out of the tent. "I don't see her." She told everyone as she brought her head back into the tent.

"Lord Commander, Captain Velvet was just spotted stealing a vehicle from covert ops and leaving the camp at high speed!" An officer reported. "She is heading in the direction of Fort Verraten!"

 

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Blake ripped her katana out of the stomach of a soldier in front of her, her vision obscured by the red mist that was her rage. She wasn't sure how long she had been fighting, but she knew that she had to kill that man. She could smell him, smell his fear. He went down this dead end hallway, and there was no other way back out of it other than the way they came. Blake had finally cornered him. Blake hadn't accomplished this unscarred, though. She had cuts and stab wounds covering her body, courtesy of the trail of dead soldiers and body guards strewn about behind her. None of the wounds were serious on their own, but they were beginning to add up. Blake was getting sluggish, taking more and more wounds as she lost more blood. But she was close. She could feel it.

A duo of soldiers burst out of a door to the right of Blake and charged her, swords raised. Blake blocked the first with ease, using her cleaver as a shield before she sliced upwards with her katana, cutting his throat. In the same fluid motion, she spun the cleaver around and slammed it into the second soldier's helmet, crashing through it and into his skull. Blake heard a sudden movement to her left, where a third soldier had come out from the opposite door to flank Blake, sword swinging. Blake pulled on her cleaver to block.

Or at least, that was what she wanted to do. But the cleaver was stuck, and blood loss had finally caught up to her, leaving her without the necessary strength to pull it free of the soldier's skull that it was embedded in. The soldier's sword came down at Blake, just missing her head as she leaned out of the way. For a second time, she wasn't entirely fast enough as the sword missed her head but cut through her left arm just above the elbow, severing Blake's left arm. Blake screamed in pain and her katana reflexively lashed out at the soldier, jabbing his throat with the tip of the blade.

Both Blake and the soldier fell to the ground, one screaming in pain and the other burbling his last breaths. Blake dropped her katana and clutched at the stump of her arm, instinctively trying to stop the bleeding. After a few moments without success, Blake used what little reason she had left to decide to grab the ribbon of her katana. She wrapped it around the stump and tied it off tight as a make shift tourniquet to stop the bleeding, with a good deal of success.

She staggered to her feet, picking up Gambol Shroud as she did so. She left the cleaver in the dead soldier's skull since she did not have the ability to wield it alongside her katana anymore. Blake stepped further down the hall, but immediately collapsed and crumpled to the ground.

Blake looked up, and found herself staring at a very familiar door with intricate etchings of leaves and vines, and a gold handle, and… "What?" Blake asked herself. She looked down at her body, and was surprised to see it was neat, dressed in clean clothing she remembered wearing while at Beacon, years ago. "How do I open this door?" She asked, the question directed at no one in particular.

Then something occurred to Blake. "Door?" She said. "Not soldiers?" She looked up and down the hallway. "I'm asleep?"

 _No,_ she thought to herself. _Not now. Wake up. This isn't the time for sleep._

Blake opened her eyes and got to her feet. Looking around her, she must have only been out for a few seconds. The blood loss, shock, and the fall must have been too much. But she was awake again, and on her feet. And now she was determinedly stepping towards the last door at the end of the hallway, where she could smell the middle aged business that was responsible for Yang's death.

Closer. She was at the door now. No more soldiers had attacked her. In this room was the man she needed to kill. She went to reach out and open the door, and found herself surprised that she had no left arm. She briefly wondered when that had happened before deciding it wasn't important. Instead, she threw her right shoulder against the door and used her weight to force it open, stumbling into the room. In her disoriented state, Blake didn't even register that something had struck her in the gut, only noticing when she couldn't move forward into the room any further.

She looked down curiously, and noted that some sort of wooden pole appeared to be sticking out of her stomach, colored a brilliant red with blood. She looked at the other end of the pole, which was being held by a ridiculous looking, muscular businessman. It looked like the wooden pole was once a flag pole that he had broken to make a simple spear out of. "I'm here to kill you." Blake coughed out, blood dribbling out of her mouth. She swung her katana at the man, but he was too far away, and the spear in her gut wasn't letting her move any closer.

"You'll have to get closer first, bitch." He growled as he held the spear in place so Blake couldn't approach. Blake swung again, the blow so weak that even had she connected, it would have done minimal, if any, damage. Finally realizing that this wasn't working, Blake stared at her weapon. Then she looked at the man, then back at her weapon. She lifted the katana once again, pointed it at the man. "You're dead now, woman." He spat.

His eyes widened in surprise as the blade of Blake's katana folded up, and Blake pulled the trigger of the pistol that was part of her weapon. His head jerked back as a single bullet struck him between the eyes, bringing his body with him. As he fell backwards, the weight of his body ripped the spear out of Blake, which caused her to stagger against the doorway. "You're… dead." She panted, feeling weak.

And suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, Blake came to her senses. Even if those senses were foggy. She only now conciously realized what she had done, and how badly hurt she was. Panic reared its head in Blake's mind. Blake realized now with terrible urgency she needed to get out of the fortress and into the forest, back to the safety of the camp.

 _I am definitely going to get a scolding from Velvet._ Blake thought.

 

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Blake didn't know how she had made it out of the fort, or even how she had made it to the forest. She did know that she was cold, and that rain and snow were unpleasant. She knew that she was sleepy, because every time she stumbled and fell she would see the door from her dreams before she realized she needed to wake up to keep moving. She didn't know how long she had been in the forest, because she couldn't see the sun to gauge the time, and her watch was on her other hand, which she no longer possessed.

The ears on top of Blake's head twitched as she heard something in the distance. Footsteps? Running? Who would run in a forest in this weather? That was just dangerous. Blake thought that maybe this person must be really late for a really important date if they were to be running so fast in such dangerous conditions. Blake thought that she was taking a much more reasonable pace as she stumbled and tripped over slippery roots and rocks.

Blake could hear the noise better now, and her name. Someone was calling her name? Blake couldn't fathom who it would be, and was thoroughly confused until she saw a blur running and leaping through the forest towards Blake at high speed. "Blake! Stop moving! Save your energy!" The blur called out to Blake.

"That… sounds like… a great idea." Blake panted. Blake took 'stop moving' to heart and simply collapsed onto the ground, in a patch of snowy grass underneath the shade of a tall pine tree.

The blur slid to a stop next to Blake, crouching down next to the collapsed faunus. "Oh, no. No, no, no." The voice said. Blake thought it sounded awfully familiar.

"…Velvet?" Blake whispered. "Is… that you?" She gasped.

"Don't move, you need to save energy. Just talk to me, okay?" Velvet said as tears streamed down her face. Velvet reached into the many pouches at her side, pulling out bandages, painkillers, and other things she needed. Velvet touched a hand to Blake's forehead. "You're so cold, not good. Come on, Blake. Say something."

"I got… them." Blake gasped. "The… bad guys."

"That's good Blake, you did a great job." Velvet agreed distractedly. She was in a panic trying to treat the wound in Blake's gut as best she could. "You've lost so much blood. No, no, no." Velvet managed to stop the bleeding from the gut, and the other wounds were comparatively minor. "Your arm, Blake." Velvet cried as she removed the ribbon Blake had used as a tourniquet to replace it with a real, more effective one.

"I think… I forgot it." Blake said softly. "In there." She tried to point with her remaining arm, but was too weak.

"Don't move!" Velvet yelled. "I need to get you back to camp." She said in a desperate attempt to control her panic.

"Velvet… I'm feel-" Blake coughed up blood. "-ing sleepy."

"You can't go to sleep, Blake. Stay awake." Velvet begged as she removed her own coat to try to warm Blake up.

"Just a… short nap." Blake whispered. "Wake me… when we're… home." Blake's eyes fluttered shut.

"No!" Velvet exclaimed. "Stay awake! I can save you!" Velvet pressed her hands against the wounds on Blake's abdomen. "I'll do whatever it takes!" Velvet closed her eyes, and began to glow. She learned to use her aura to heal from the most powerful huntress she had ever known. She could do this. She just needed to use her aura to fuel the healing process. It was harder to do it in someone else, but for Blake she would give up all her energy if she had to. "Come on, just a little longer, Blake!" The glow around Velvet intensified, turning her into a glowing beacon of light in an otherwise dark and grey forest.

 

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Blake's felt tired, like she had just run a marathon. She felt warm, though, which was nice. For some reason she remembered being really cold not too long ago. Oh well. At least she was warm now, and not out in the snow and rain. Her eyes fluttered open. She was disappointed that her first sight when opening her eyes was a dim light bulb and not a friend, but there wasn't much she could do about that.

Blake realized she was sleeping on the floor of a hallway, the floor of which was made of hard tiles that Blake found didn't really agree with her back. She stood up, stretching her arms above her head to work out some of that soreness. Arms? She looked up, and indeed she had two arms. "I could've sworn something happened to my arm." Blake said to no one in particular as she took a closer look at her left arm. Blake was going to inspect further to try to remember what she thought had happened, but she noticed a dark wooden door in front of her that smelled of walnut. The door was etched with beautiful designs of swirling vines, leaves, and flowers, and the door handle looked to be made of cast gold.

"Ah." She said. "I remember you." Blake realized she was sleeping, and the memories of what had happened to her began to return to her. She had gone mad and killed the men responsible for the war, and then tried to escape. And then Velvet had found her. After that, Blake was drawing a blank. "Well if you're here, then I must be resting." Blake said to the door as she reached out and gently stroked it. She looked down to see what she was wearing this time, and was surprised to see that she was just wearing black sweatpants and a white tank top. "How comfortable." She said with a smile. "But I really should be going, I'm sure everyone is worried." Blake closed her eyes again, and willed herself awake so she could see her friends.

When Blake opened her eyes… she was still in front of the door. She chuckled. "Not so easy this time, huh?" Blake poked at the door. "I guess I have time to play around then." Blake looked up and down the hallway, at the familiar dim lights and wooden slat walls. Blake could swear that someone was calling her name out in the distance, desperately trying to get her attention. She looked left, and saw what looked like a warm, bright light at the far end of the hallway. Blake wondered in someone was trying to wake her up. But if she couldn't wake up yet, then she figured she may as well humor herself and reached for the door handle, the anxiety she used to feel gone after more than a year of having this dream every night.

But this time, the handle turned. Blake was in shock. "What?" She said out loud, caught by surprise. Blake let go of the handle, and it sprung back up into its neutral position. She reached out and turned the handle again, expecting the last time to have been an anomaly. But once again, the handle turned all the way down. Blake kept a good enough grip on her surprise to not let go this time, and instead lightly pushed on the door. She heard the faraway voice calling her name again, but was Blake was too engulfed in surprise about the door opening, and ignored it.

The door swung open on silent hinges, revealing a room. It was a simple yet cozy looking room, with a nice black leather couch, a large flat screen television, a silver ceiling fan with wooden fan blades, some light fixtures built into the walls, a coffee table made of black steel and glass, and other various pieces of furniture and decorative objects. She could see book shelves filled with books, shoe racks filled with shoes, a display case filled with dust crystals, and other similar things scattered about the room.

Blake tiptoed into the room, unsure about what she expected to be behind the door, but it certainly was not this. She closed the door softly behind her, it gave an audible 'click' when it shut, cutting off the voice in the distance as Blake gave the room another look over. There were two closed doors down a short hallway to her left, and a glass sliding door opposite her that led to a small balcony overlooking a nighttime cityscape. She must be high up in a building to have such a view. To her right was a small archway, through which she could hear sizzling. She sniffed, and realized she smelled something cooking. The kitchen must be to her right, then. Blake peeked her head around the edge of the archway to investigate.

Blake's jaw dropped in stunned silence as she froze in place. Standing in front of an oven was a woman wearing black short shorts, and an orange spaghetti strap shirt that could barely be seen through the wild mane of blonde hair that fell down her back. The woman was humming a soft tune that sounded like a lullaby. Blake could recognize that hair, that voice, that body, anywhere. "Yang?" She whispered.

The woman jumped in surprise and she turned, nearly dropping the skillet she had in her hand. "Ah!" She looked at Blake. "It's polite to knock, you know." The woman smiled.

Now that she turned around, Blake could see for sure that she was looking at Yang. But her mind was still in shock. "Yang?" Blake stepped all the way into the kitchen.

Yang smiled. "The one and only." Yang held her arms out in an open invitation for a hug.

Blake shook her head. "No." She backed away, up against the wall. "This is just a dream."

Yang let her arms fall to her side, but the smile was still on her face. "Not anymore, it isn't." Yang said.

"What do you mean? What is this?" Blake said, her eyes darting around the room.

"Come on, Blake. You know what this place is." Yang gestured all around her.

Blake did indeed have a feeling she knew what this place was, now that Yang had mentioned it. "You're really here?" Yang nodded. "And I am now, too?" Yang nodded again. "For real?"

Yang held her arms out again, waiting for a hug from Blake. "For reals."

That was all the confirmation Blake needed before she launched herself across the room at Yang, burying her face in Yang's chest as Yang embraced her. "Long time no see, kitten."

"You were gone for so long, and I missed you so much, and…" Blake couldn't continue as she cried.

"It's okay, Blake." Yang assured Blake as she lovingly stroked her hair. "Don't worry, I've got you." Yang said, holding Blake tight. "Don't you cry, now."

Blake loosened her grip on Yang just enough to look up into the blonde's eyes. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, kitten." Yang said, still stroking Blake's hair. "Though if I were to be perfectly honest, I wish you would have taken longer to get here."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked, wiping tears from her eyes.

"What kind of wife would I be if I wanted you here sooner?" Yang said, leaving unspoken the implications of the meaning of Blake's arrival.

Blake chuckled. "I guess I can understand that."

"Hey! You finally smiled!" Yang said excitedly. "I've missed that smile. I love you so much!" Yang embraced Blake again.

"Oh, shut it. I love you, too. This is just a lot to take in." Blake shot back. "And-" Blake was interrupted as Yang pulled her into a kiss. A deep, passionate kiss that felt like it went on for an eternity, linking together in body and soul. A kiss that held every unspoken feeling, every memory of their time together, and a promise to make many more memories.

After a period of time that felt far too short, Yang gently pulled out of the kiss. "Blake?" Yang asked softly, cupping Blake's cheek.

"Yes, Yang?" Blake replied just as softly, very nearly purring in happiness.

Yang flashed a brilliantly bright smile. "Welcome home."


	21. When the Hammer Falls

"Lord Commander, the tracking device shows that Captain Scarlatina's vehicle is close." The junior officer had been assigned by Weiss to follow the location of the tracking device that was present in all of the army's vehicles. According to the tracking device, Velvet had begun driving back towards the camp just a couple hours ago. "The vehicle is moving at high speed."

"Understood." Weiss acknowledged. She was doing everything she could to contain her worry and anxiety under a calm and cool exterior in front of her soldiers and friends, but it was becoming difficult. "She must have Blake with her. Get a medical team ready." Weiss ordered.

"You think they're okay?" Jaune asked. "They've been gone for a while now." It had been nearly eight hours since Velvet had stolen the bike to find Blake, and now it was deep in to the night, nearly dawn. The sun would be rising soon, and none of them had gotten any sleep.

"They're both huntresses." Pyrrha said. "It will take more than a few soldiers to stop that pair." Pyrrha tried to sound more confident in that statement than she felt, but it was a hollow confidence.

"She's almost here." Weiss interjected. "I'm going out to meet her."

"We're coming too." Jaune said as he followed Weiss, Pyrrha at his side. The trio jogged in the direction Velvet and Blake were approaching from, the dust plume in the distance created by Velvet's bike, barely visible under the light of the stars and moon, acting as a guide. The closer they got, the faster they began to jog, their anxiety and uncertainty growing at an alarming rate.

They paused once they reached the camp's edge, the medical team arriving a few minutes before them. The four members saluted Weiss, Jaune, and Pyrrha as they approached. Weiss tapped her foot impatiently while Pyrrha took Jaune's hand for comfort, everyone staring at the approaching plume of dust. Within minutes they could see a vehicle approaching at high speed, steadily increasing in size at it approached.

Once Velvet was close enough to see them clearly, she began slowing down. Pyrrha, who had the best eyesight out of the three friends, gasped in surprise. "She's got Blake with her!"

Weiss breathed a sigh of relief. But that relief was cut short and blown away as Velvet continued her approach and everyone got a better view of Blake. Blake was tied onto the bike in a sitting position, a rope going around her waist and Velvet's. As Velvet pulled to a stop, the medical team rushed forward to provide assistance, but Velvet waved them away. They were baffled for a moment, because surely someone who needed to be tied on to a bike was in serious need of medical assistance. It clicked moments later though as Velvet untied the rope holding Blake to her and dismounted, lifting Blake into her arms.

Blake was deathly white, what little color she had before in life was now gone in death. Her clothes were stained with so much blood that even the black fabric couldn't hide the sheer volume of it, and even more could be seen through the cuts and bullet holes in the fabric. None of that mattered to Weiss, because all those details were minor compared to the fact that Blake lay limp in Velvet's arms, with one of her own arms resting across a terrible wound in her abdomen while the other… wasn't there. Blake's left arm had been severed just above the elbow. It wasn't bleeding though. None of Blake's wounds were.

"No." Weiss whispered. "No." She backed away. "Not Blake too." Weiss collapsed to her knees. "No."

Pyrrha moved to Weiss' side, holding her as Weiss stared disbelieving at her last teammate's body. Jaune moved to help Velvet carry Blake, but Velvet shied away protectively. "Velvet?" Jaune asked hesitantly.

Velvet eyed Jaune warily, like a small animal watching a predator. The manic look in her eyes only lasted for a few moments before Velvet returned to her own senses, though. "I tried to save her. I tried everything I knew how to do. I tried." Velvet whimpered. "I thought she was getting better, but then suddenly she was gone. I couldn't do anything." Velvet fell to her knees as well, holding Blake tight against her as she cried.

Jaune turned to the medical team and waved them away sadly before turning back to Velvet. "Come on, Velvet. Let's get you and Blake cleaned up." He gently helped Velvet to her feet while she still held onto Blake's body. Jaune led her towards the medical tents, hoping a familiar environment might calm her enough to rest.

Pyrrha watched the procession leave with sadness as she kept her hand on Weiss' shoulder. "Weiss, we should go with them. We should be together at a time like this." But Weiss didn't move. "Weiss?" Pyrrha asked, looking back down at her friend.

"I was supposed to be the best teammate." Weiss whispered.

"What?" Pyrrha wasn't sure what exactly Weiss was talking about.

"I told Ruby that I would be the best teammate." Weiss said again. "I was going to prove I could use my skills to protect them and to fight Grimm. And now everyone is dead." Weiss slumped. "What kind of teammate does that make me? I'm still here, safe and sound. Cold and alone." Weiss just continued staring at the grass in front of her, looking but not seeing anything.

"It wasn't your fault Weiss. You can't blame yourself for this." Pyrrha tried to reassure her friend, crouching in front of Weiss and grabbing her hands.

"I can, though." Weiss continued softly. "I knew that something like this was bound to happen sooner or later."

"You didn't know that Blake would snap at the fortress. You didn't even know a meeting like that was going to happen. You're smart, Weiss, but you don't know everything." Pyrrha said.

"But I knew enough." There were tears flowing freely down Weiss' face. "I knew Blake was at her limits, and that she wanted to die. I knew that soon enough she would breakdown."

"Blake wanted to die?" Pyrrha asked in a tone of gentle disbelief. "Why?"

"She missed Yang." Weiss was still staring nothing in particular, not even seeing Pyrrha in front of her. "And she was sad. I understood. But I thought, 'surely a few more missions wouldn't hurt.'" Weiss explained softly. "I needed all the people I could get."

Pyrrha got back to her feet, letting go of Weiss' hand. "We'll have a talk about how you treat your friends and soldiers later." Pyrrha scolded. "But right now we have a friend who we need to say our proper goodbyes to." Pyrrha reached out with both arms and grasped Weiss by the shoulders, yanking her to her feet. "So you're coming with me."

Pyrrha led Weiss by the hand towards the medical tents, where Jaune and Velvet had taken Blake's body. Weiss followed along blindly, slowing regaining her senses as Pyrrha walked her along through the camp. They reached the medical tent in short order and entered to find that Velvet and Jaune had placed Blake on a bed. It was a surreal sight; Blake looked almost as if she could be sleeping with how at peace her face looked. Weiss almost expected that Blake would just wake up and ask everyone why they were all standing around her. But then Weiss saw the terrible wound in Blake's stomach, her missing arm, and the staggering number of other wounds that Blake had sustained and fought through.

Velvet was sitting on the floor next to the bed, knees pulled up against her chest and her arms wrapped tight around them as she quietly cried to herself. Jaune was standing over Blake with his arms crossed, waiting for Weiss and Pyrrha to arrive. Weiss broke away from Pyrrha as they got closer to Blake, rushing to Blake's side and looking down at her friend sadly. "I'm sorry, Blake." Weiss whispered somberly at Blake's infuriatingly peaceful looking face. Weiss reached out to stroke Blake's hair, but stopped. The hair was caked with dried blood and wasn't really fit to be stroked or brushed at the moment. "Get someone to clean her." Weiss mumbled. "Please."

"I'll do it." Velvet said from her spot on the floor. Her voice was slightly muffled because she didn't raise her head, but her voice was still audible. "I'll take care of her."

"Okay." Weiss agreed. "Thank you, Velvet." Weiss walked over and squatted besides Velvet to give her a quick hug. "I'm sorry for your loss." Weiss stood back up and turned away from Blake, unable to take being around the body any longer.

"It's your loss too, Weiss." Jaune said as Weiss walked away, stopping her in her tracks. "You were her friend. You're allowed to mourn and be human, too."

"I was friends with Blake Belladonna." Weiss said. "Not… that. That's just a body that Blake happened to use, once." Weiss gestured vaguely in the direction of the body. "And I can mourn my friend later. I have things I need to get done." Weiss didn't look back as she left the others behind her in stunned silence.

 

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Nora was staring back down at the camp below her again. Once the rain and snow had passed she had returned to her position on the edge of the cliff, sitting down and dangling her legs down off the rocky edge. She was staring at the army below her again, drawing lightly on her aura to keep her warm in the pre-dawn darkness. Nora could hear Nori humming while pacing around behind her.

"You've got company." Nori quipped from behind her.

"I can hear him. You don't need to tell me." Nora grumbled.

"Just trying to help." Nori chirped, plopping down next to Nora.

"Commander." Lieutenant Vild's approaching voice said.

"Yeah?" Nora didn't bother turning.

"I have news from Major General Arc." He said.

Nora waited for Vild to continue, but he stayed quiet. "Well?" Nora asked, still not bothering to turn around.

"He asked me to inform you that Major Belladonna has fallen in battle." He said somberly. Hammer Company greatly respected Blake, more so than they did the other hunters, because Blake was the only other person in the army who could match Nora in a fight. As good as Pyrrha, Jaune, and some of the other hunters were, Blake and Nora still were far superior as warriors.

"Really?" Nora asked in surprise. "She's dead?"

"Yes, ma'am." He confirmed. "They've brought her body back to the medical tents."

Nora didn't respond and instead chose to stay quiet, squinting as the tip of the sun began emerging from over Greatwood forest to the south. Nora's eyes drifted westwards, further in towards Vacuo. The rising sun illuminated the landscape below her position on the high cliffs, chasing away the nighttime darkness.

"Would you like me to take command while you go visit?" Lieutenant Vild asked.

"I don't need to visit a dead body." Nora replied distractedly. "And I don't think right now is the best time either."

"Why is that, boss?" Vild asked, edging closer to Nora to hear her more clearly.

Nora pointed. "I don't think we'll have time while dealing with that." Nora's pointing finger directed Vild's gaze to a dark mass on the horizon. "Get everyone geared up. Contact Weiss and make sure she knows they're coming."

Vild tore his eyes away from the approaching army with some difficulty. "You got it." He ran back to Hammer Company's tents, hidden in some nearby caves.

Nora sighed as she hopped to her feet. "I guess we're going to be busy for a while."

Nori smiled. "At least it'll be fun, right?"

 

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"Set up armored defensive lines here." Weiss pointed to the holographic map, highlighting the area so the dedicated communication officers would know where to send the soldiers. "How long until our air support arrives?"

"They're en route, ETA fifteen minutes." The officer reported.

"Too long. Tell them to rush it." Weiss ordered. "Tell Colonel Sten to set up inside the tree line, out of sight until I give the order." Weiss looked back at the map, at the unending swarm of dots that represented the Vacuoan army. "What's Hammer Company's status?"

"They're geared up and waiting for your orders, Lord Commander." Another officer reported.

"Good." Weiss was frantic. She didn't expect Vacuo to attack so soon. Her plan was to use the information that Blake and her squad had gotten from their mission and spread it through the Vacuoan military and the Vacuoan civilians, to both destroy their moral and to hopefully reveal the corruption so the war could be ended. But Blake's attack must have caused whoever was now in charge to want revenge, or to at least to pursue more aggressive tactics. Either way, they were about to come under attack. They had a good position in a narrow corridor between high cliffs and a thick forest, so numbers weren't an issue, but attrition would be. Their superior position was only good as long as they had energy left to fight.

Weiss tapped her earpiece, opening communication to Jaune. "Where are you?"

"I'm with the armored line." Jaune answered hurriedly. "Pyrrha is here too."

"Is Velvet with you?" Weiss asked as she rotated the map in front of her.

"No," Jaune said, "she won't leave Blake's body. We have her second-in-command with us though. He's leading the medical corps."

"Not ideal, but all right." Weiss replied. "Good luck."

"You too." Jaune cut off communication.

Weiss rotated the map again, desperate to try to formulate a strategy to use against the Vacuoan army. She watched as the holographic enemy forces on the map collided with the defensive lines of her own forces. Their initial charge had great weight behind it, but the armored soldiers that made up the front lines of Weiss' army were strong and well trained, and weathered the impact without any significant casualties. The forces began to intermingle as the melee started, but for the most part the front lines were holding strong. "Order a slow, steady retreat." Weiss told the communication officers. "We want to draw them back with us so Colonel Sten can flank them with his riflemen." Weiss watched the lines ever so slowly crawl backwards on the holographic map as the orders were relayed out to the appropriate forces. She reached up and tapped her earpiece again to change the channel, opening communication with Nora.

"Yes?" Nora asked calmly.

"Is Hammer Company still positioned on the cliffs?" Weiss asked.

"Yup. Want us to engage the incoming airships?" Nora seemed very nonchalant about the whole matter.

"No, don't give away your position. I have our artillery and big guns ready to keep the enemy aircraft at bay until our own airships arrive." Weiss explained. "Is there a quick way for you to get down the cliffs to the battlefield?"

The line was quiet for a moment as Nora confirmed her surroundings with her navigation officer. "There's a steep slope we can use to hit the enemy from the side nearby, if you want." Nora went quiet and Weiss heard some muffled voices. "Or we could jump."

"What? No. That's a terrible idea. You're the only one who'd survive the fall." Weiss said incredulously. She could swear the she could hear Nora shrugging over the line. "Colonel Sten is positioned in the forest right now to flank. When you see him begin his attack, I want you to lead Hammer Company and hit them from the opposite side." Weiss ordered.

"Attack after Sten. You got it." Nora confirmed.

"So stay put until then, I'll call again if anything changes." Weiss said before cutting off the call. As Weiss looked at the map once more, she gave out a few more orders to fix up certain formations that were beginning to shift out of place.

"Enemy air forces approaching, Lord Commander!" As soon as the officer said this, a cluster of dots appeared on the holographic map.

"Are the cannons combat ready?" Weiss inquired. The large caliber cannons they had mounted on the beds of large trucks could be refitted for both anti-air and anti-armor, and could be moved on the trucks to better positions if needed. Right now they were behind Weiss' army, but that would be sufficient to hold off any aircraft in this narrow corridor between the high cliffs and the tall tree of Greatwood Forest.

"All cannons are primed and ready for continuous rotating fire, Lord Commander." The officer reported.

"Excellent." Weiss watched nervously as their lines slowly continued to fall back, drawing the Vacuoans further in so they could be flanked. "All right." Weiss keyed in Colonel Sten's frequency on her earpiece. "Colonel Sten, attack now!"

 

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Nora was standing at the top of the cliffs, looking down the slope below her at the clashing armies. She knew she was supposed to attack once Colonel Sten attacked from the forest, so she kept her eyes trained on the forest below, ready for action. The armored soldiers on the front lines were slowly pulling back towards the rifle units behind them, who were in turn pulling back towards the command tents and the rest of the camp.

"The Lord Commander seems to be cutting it awfully close." Lieutenant Vild commented from Nora's side.

Nora could hear an uneasy shuffling behind her as the other one hundred and fifty soldiers of Hammer Company watched their army slowly pull back, without any sign of Sten's counter attack happening. "I'm sure Weiss has it all planned out." Nora said. But even she could hear the slight note of nervousness in her own voice.

 

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"Colonel Sten!" Weiss called out again. "Damn it!" Weiss pulled out the earpiece to look at it. "Doesn't look broken…" Weiss mumbled as she investigated the device.

"Lord Commander, our scouts reports that Colonel Sten's men have been routed!" the officer sounded surprised and panicked.

"What?" Weiss was caught completely off guard. How had they heard nothing about this? He was just fine an hour ago when she ordered him to set up inside the forest to attack. "What happened?"

"It looks like they were ambushed, ma'am." The officer continued as he listened to the report. "Only a few dozen soldiers of the Fifth Rifle Battalion made it out alive, and Colonel Sten is reported KIA."

This wasn't good. Because they were caught off guard, Weiss' entire current plan revolved around Sten's ambush. With Sten and his thousand soldiers dead, Weiss' plan fell to pieces. "Oh, no."

 

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Jaune ducked under a sword that swished just above his head, nearly decapitating him. He then darted forward and punched out with his shield, smashing the soldier in the face and dazing him. Jaune then whipped his sword arm around the soldier's neck and pulled him against him as he spun to his left, using the soldier as a human shield against the second soldier to his left, who fired his rifle at Jaune. The bullets hit Jaune's human shield, killing the soldier. As the second soldier reloaded, his body jerked and fell backwards, two precise bullet wounds dotting his chest. Jaune could recognize such precision shooting anywhere. "Thanks, Pyrrha!" He called out as he blocked another soldier's spear with his shield, throwing it wide and stabbing the soldier in the stomach.

"Sure thing!" Pyrrha replied, who was nearby and firing her rifle into the mass of enemy soldiers. When a Vacuoan soldier got too close, she spun and changed her weapon into its sword form, pulling out her shield with her semblance as she did so. She used her sword to block the incoming spear then used her shield to jab the soldier in the throat, crushing his windpipe. There was a second soldier behind the first who was already swinging at Pyrrha, but he stopped mid-swing as Jaune's sword erupted from his chest. "Thanks." Pyrrha said as she continued fighting.

"No problem." Jaune added as he moved with Pyrrha, the two fighting symbiotically. One set up a soldier for a kill, the other delivered the killing blow. One would block an attack for the other, allowing the other to counter attack. They fought as a single being, their many years of fighting and training together turning them into a twin whirlwind of death. Their presence on the front lines of the battlefield rallied their soldiers, giving them the energy and courage to fight their strongest.

But even as hard as they were fighting, they could sense something was wrong. They had been on the front lines too long, and were retreating too far back. Soon they would be back at the camp. What was happening? The pair couldn't spare the time to ponder though, placing their trust in Weiss' judgment as they continued to fight against the overwhelming enemy force.

Weiss was trying to salvage what she could from the situation, but nothing was working. Their air support had arrived, but they were too outnumbered in the air and were only barely keeping the Vacuoan air force at bay thanks to the help of the cannons. Adding onto her problems, Weiss couldn't order the cannons moved and repositioned farther back because if they stopped firing then the enemy ships would break through and either take out the main camp, or attack the soldiers themselves and do catastrophic damage. Either way, Weiss was stuck with keeping the cannons where they were as her armed forces were slowing being worn down.

 

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"Call a full retreat." Weiss ordered. "Scorched earth. Burn everything behind us to slow them down enough for us to escape to the east!"

The officers were in shock. Retreat? They had never had to launch a full retreat in such unfavorable conditions before. "Lord Commander, if we retreat now…" He didn't finish his thought. If they stopped firing their cannons and brought them along, they would get ripped to shreds by the enemy aircraft. If they left their cannons behind, then they would lose some of their most powerful weaponry in addition to a chunk of their army.

Weiss tapped her earpiece again, opening a channel to Jaune and Pyrrha. "Full retreat!" She ordered.

"We can't do that right now!" Jaune yelled back, out of breath.

"There are too many, Weiss!" Pyrrha yelled, grunting as she engaged another soldier. "They're mixed in all with us now, we can't retreat!"

Weiss looked at the map again, grimacing as she saw that Pyrrha was indeed right. Both Weiss' army and the Vacuoan army on the front lines were mixed together, leaving no room for retreat. How had she missed that? If she tried to pull back now, then they would be leaving half their force behind to die, including Jaune, Pyrrha, and over two dozen other hunters.

"Is this finally it?" Weiss whispered to herself, just quiet enough that no one else heard her.

 

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"What are they waiting for?" Nora grumbled discontentedly. With her overhead view of the battle, she had a very clear view of what was happening, and none of it was good. Their front lines were crumbling under the onslaught of the Vacuoan army, what little air support they had was only barely holding back the enemy aircraft, and still Colonel Sten was nowhere to be seen. Nora tapped her own earpiece, trying to contact Weiss. "Weiss! Where's Sten!" She yelled.

"Ambushed. Dead." Weiss said in monotone. "We can't retreat." Nora could hear the hopelessness in Weiss' voice; the Lord Commander had never been so thoroughly defeated before.

"Why not?" Nora yelled angrily.

"They would just keep stabbing us from behind, or shooting us from above." Weiss answered robotically.

Nora stared down at the armies below her, at the mass of blood and bodies, fire and smoke, flesh and machine. "So you just need some time to escape, then." Nora whispered.

"What was that?" Weiss asked, but Nora cut off communication.

"I don't like what you're thinking, Nora." Nori said from beside her.

"Get over it." Nora shot back.

"We'll die." Nori said quietly.

"At least it'll be fun, right?" Nora smiled darkly.

Nori looked at Nora for a few seconds, face blank. But then, she smiled too. "Right." Then Nora blinked, and Nori was gone. Nora looked around, but Nori was nowhere to be seen. She briefly wondered what that meant before deciding it wasn't important enough to waste time thinking about.

Nora turned to her one hundred and fifty soldiers gathered behind her. "Hammer Company!" She yelled. They all snapped to attention, eyes on their commander. "Our fellow soldiers are dying down there, and there's no way out. They're going to die unless they can escape, and that doesn't look like an option right now." She looked at each soldier individually. She could see some of them understood what Nora was getting at, while others were still waiting for more. "This is a volunteer mission only." Nora said, quieter this time. "I won't make you do this. We've been through a lot together, and you all deserve to make your own choices this time."

Lieutenant Vild stepped forward, bringing his hand to his heart in salute. "Permission to speak, Major Valkyrie!" He asked stiffly.

"No need for formalities here, Vild." Nora said. "Speak."

"With all due respect, boss." He said, less stiffly. "I don't think I'd miss this for the world."

The rest of Hammer Company behind him cheered, stamping their feet and roaring their bravado. Nora smiled gratefully, the first real smile her soldiers had ever seen, and held up her hand for silence. "Thank you, everyone." Nora dropped her smile, and pointed to her men. "Load up all the ordinance we have! Every rocket, every grenade, I want everything. If we can't carry it, then shoot it at them!"

Lieutenant Vild took over for Nora as she turned away and began checking Magnhild. "If you have tracking or heat seeking ordinance, take out any air craft you can first!" He yelled. "Otherwise, you have free reign with where you choose to shoot among the enemy!" The soldiers cheered once again, loading up packs of rockets onto their backs and partnering up for maximum efficiency in shooting speed. They weren't trying to be accurate, they were just trying to cause damage.

It took less than a minute for Hammer Company to reform their lines behind Nora. One hundred and fifty soldiers, carrying more than three hundred rockets and five hundred grenades. Enough to do some hefty damage, if they were allowed to run free. "Ready up!" Nora called out, readying Magnhild at her side. "We are Hammer Company!" Nora yelled. The soldiers cheered. "And we will not go out without a bang!"

Hammer Company let out a roar, and charged down the slope towards the army below them.

 

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Jaune drew on more of his aura as he grasped Pyrrha's hand, healing both of their wounds and washing away some of Pyrrha's fatigue. He didn't have enough energy left to heal his soldiers under his command like he would've liked to, but he would not let Pyrrha come to harm while he as alive. Healing Pyrrha and himself took a lot of energy though, and he fell to one knee, panting for breath.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha spun around and slashed, cutting down two soldiers around them. She moved to Jaune's side, trusting in their honor guard to defend them for the short amount of time she spent checking on Jaune. Her quick inspection revealed no new wounds and she helped pull Jaune shakily to his feet. "This doesn't look good." Pyrrha said, looking at the battle around them.

"Hey, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, still holding onto Pyrrha for support as he caught his breath.

"Yes, Jaune?" Pyrrha answered distractedly, keeping an eye on the battle around them.

"Will you marry me?" Jaune tried to stand up on his own, and was only barely successful. "Or is this not the best time? I figured I'd ask once the war was over and, well…" he gestured around them at their broken front lines.

"This is not the best time, no!" Pyrrha yelled. "And yes!" She kissed Jaune on the mouth quickly. "But we need to keep fighting!" Pyrrha turned to rejoin the fray. "Watch my back!"

"My pleasure." Jaune said as she stayed near to Pyrrha, defending her from attacks while she continued laying waste to enemy soldiers. "I was afraid you'd say 'no.'"

"Really not the time, Jaune!" Pyrrha yelled over the roar of battle, gutting the soldier in front of her.

"You're right." Jaune said as grabbed Pyrrha and pulled her behind his shield, blocking a flurry of bullets.

Pyrrha returned fire with her rifle. "Of course I am." Pyrrha leapt back in front of Jaune to continue fighting.

"Major General! We're surrounded and cut off!" One of Jaune's honor guard called out.

"Well that's not good." Jaune commented, hacking at another soldier's neck.

At the same time, both Jaune and Pyrrha's earpieces crackled to life. "Jaune? Pyrrha?"

"Nora?" Jaune asked as Pyrrha just listened, continuing her fight. "We're a bit busy here."

"I see that. On three, you and your men hit the ground." Nora told him.

"What do you-" Pyrrha started, but was interrupted.

"Onetwothree!" Nora said, the three numbers coming out as nearly a single syllable to Jaune's ears.

"Hit the deck!" Jaune yelled as loud as he could. Though the order was strange, out of place, and made no sense, Jaune's honor guard knew when it was a good idea to quickly obey an order. All at once, Jaune, Pyrrha, their honor guard, and all their nearby soldiers ignored their fights and dropped to the ground, catching their Vacuoan opponents by surprise, who stared at their suddenly grounded foes in astonishment.

Their astonishment was short lived however, as dozens upon dozens of grenades impacted the ground in the Vacuoan forces, killing many, injuring more, and throwing even more to the ground. "Get out of here!" Nora yelled over the earpiece.

"What?" Jaune yelled back. "Where are you!" He called out.

"Pyrrha, get him out! And all your men!" Nora yelled.

Pyrrha wasn't one to let an opportunity pass, and quickly pulled Jaune to his feet and began leading him away. "Everyone! Full retreat!" She called out. The order spread quickly, and their allies began getting to their feet and retreating at full speed. The Vacuoans weren't so easily defeated though, and began pursuit right away.

That was what they started to do anyway, before a salvo of what appeared to be nearly one hundred rockets impacted all throughout their lines, doing immense amounts of damage. Jaune followed the smoke trails with his eyes, and saw a small force running down the cliffs to the north, firing rockets as they ran down the steep slope as fast as they could. At the head of this force of a hundred and fifty, he could she a tiny redheaded girl launching grenades into the mass of foes ahead of her. "Nora!" Jaune called out. "What are you doing!"

"Just get out of here!" Nora said with finality, before ripping out her earpiece so she wouldn't be interrupted by Jaune again.

"Nora!" Jaune called out desperately. But Nora couldn't hear him, and he could only watch in horror as Hammer Company continued their charge down the cliffs towards the army below them. "Nora!"

 

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Nora watched as her allies managed to put some distance between themselves and the enemy, thanks to Hammer Company's assault. But they weren't in the clear yet. "All right everyone!" Nora yelled behind her as they continued charging down the cliffs, not even bothering to aim their rockets and grenades anymore, just firing into the mass of enemy soldiers below them. The only soldiers who needed to aim were the ones firing rockets at the airships, and even then those rockets did most of the tracking themselves. "I'll take the ten thousand on the left, you all can take the ten thousand on the right!"

Nora could hear her soldiers laughing behind her, all of them defiant in the face of death as it drew ever closer. A battalion of a thousand soldiers broke off from the army below to intercept Hammer Company. Nora and her forces were offended at such a small welcoming party, and fired all their remaining explosives at those thousand soldiers. The explosions ripped the battalion to shreds, leaving nothing in their wake. The rest of the terrified Vacuoan army attempted to back away from Hammer Company, but their commanders pushed them on and they all turned to intercept Nora's forces.

"Perfect." Nora said with a satisfied, sadistic grin. The entire point of this maneuver was to allow the rest of their army to escape, and it seemed it was going work. Nora's one hundred and fifty had drawn the attention of the remaining twenty thousand troops of Vacuo. And Hammer Company had no chance of winning this fight, no matter how good they were.

But that wasn't going to stop them. They roared a great battle cry and smashed into the Vacuoan lines with the impact of a force ten times their number. The impact was accompanied by the sound of death, explosions, cheers, and pain. Any other group of soldiers fighting against such impossible odds would have fallen then and there, but Hammer Company was made of tougher stuff. Hammer Company was the bravest, the strongest, the wildest, the biggest. And they were determined to make sure no one could ignore their power.

"Yah!" Nora yelled, bringing Magnhild down on one of the giant war robots and caving in its body. Nora watched with a sort of grim satisfaction as she saw her soldiers working together to bring down another robot nearby, a couple of them using some grenades to disable its cannons before another climbed atop it and shoved yet another grenade into the main body's shell, blowing the robot apart from the inside.

The soldiers of Hammer Company who had used up all their explosives pulled out more conventional weapons- greatswords, war hammers, giant axes, all sorts of massive weapons befitting their destructive nature, and began expressing their displeasure with the surrounding soldiers. They smashed, they hacked, they slashed, they crushed.

As powerful as they were, Hammer Company was not invincible, and soldiers began to fall. First one, then two, then a dozen, then more. Each death seemed to spur Nora to greater feats of strength, and with each death Nora fought harder and harder, desperate to make up the difference and to exact revenge for her fallen comrades.

But not even Nora, a titan among men, could hold out forever. At long last she was the only one left standing, a bloodstained warrior standing among a field of dead, bleeding from countless wounds. Vacuo's army had pulled back once they saw that she was bleeding out, unwilling to lose any more soldiers to this destructive force disguised as a small girl. Nora attempted to follow, but she had no strength left and collapsed onto the ground under her, no longer able to move.

"How nice of you… to join us mortals… here on the ground." A voice said from beside Nora's spot on the ground.

With great effort, Nora turned her head towards the voice, and found that Lieutenant Vild was lying on ground as well. Nora could see what was obviously a fatal wound- Vild's lower body was missing below his abdomen. "You… look like crap, Vild." Nora choked out with a smile.

"You don't look… so great yourself… boss." He coughed out, also grinning a bloody grin. Nora started to laugh, but found that her lungs couldn't quite take it. "Hey, boss?" Vild said, his voice almost too quiet to hear.

"Yeah?" Nora whispered.

"It was an honor." He managed to finish his sentence just before the last breath left his body with a quiet sigh.

"You too, Vild." Nora said. "What do you think… happens when we… die?" She asked. Vild didn't answer. "Vild?" Nora tried to focus her blurry vision on the man next to her. She saw his empty eyes, and a distant part of her mind realized that he was gone.

Nora could hear a set of footsteps approaching from her other side. She wondered if it was an enemy, and regretted that Magnhild had no more grenades to show that she was not quite dead yet. A shadow fell over her as the footsteps stopped next to her other side, and Nora struggled to turn her head to see who this person was.

She managed to get her head facing straight up when she felt a finger touch the tip of her nose gently. "Boop." A man's voice said. A familiar voice that she hadn't heard in a very long time.

"Ren?" She whispered. Nora forced her eyes to focus on the figured crouching next to her. She recognized the green coat, the black hair with the magenta streak, and the matching eyes. Beautiful eyes.

"Everything is okay now, Nora." He said. He reached out and grabbed Nora's hand.

"You look very pretty, Ren." Nora said quietly.

"You do too." Ren deadpanned. "Once you get cleaned up, anyways."

"That bad?"

"Yeah." Ren stroked Nora's hand softly with his thumb. "I've been waiting for you."

"Sorry I kept you waiting." Nora whispered.

"I'd wait however long I need to, for you."" Ren answered. "You ready to go?" He shifted his grip so that his hand was holding Nora's wrist, and her hand holding his wrist.

Nora used the last of her strength to nod. "Yeah." Nora sighed her last breath, her chest falling still and rising no more.

Ren let out the tiniest of grins. "Then let's go." He stood up, pulling Nora to her feet so she was standing above her own body.

Nora looked up from her body to Ren. She didn't want nor need an explanation. She had Ren, after all. And he would take care of her. "Yeah." Nora smiled, hugging Ren tight as the world faded away around them.

 

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The retreat was hectic, sloppy, and a disaster in general, but they managed to get out alive thanks to the Nora's sacrifice. Her assault had stalled the pursuing ground forces, and their flurry of rockets against the pursuing aircraft had set them back as well. But the cost was heavy. Weiss' army was down to only a few thousand men now, and all of them were tired and injured. A few thousand could not hold out long against the Vacuoan army, no matter how much damage Nora did. And now, hours later, they finally slowed their retreat and were forced to set up a camp out of sheer exhaustion.

"We shouldn't have left her behind." Jaune shot at Pyrrha. "She was our friend." Jaune barely had the strength to stand after their retreat, and was only able to stand now with the assistance of his arm around Pyrrha's shoulder.

"I know." Pyrrha replied, tears in her eyes as she carried Jaune towards the medical area, which was just a bunch of blankets on cots on the open ground now that they had to leave their tents behind in their retreat. "I know."

"Sorry." Jaune struggled to keep his weight off of Pyrrha for her sake, but was unsuccessful. "It's just… this was a nightmare."

"Weiss must be devastated." Pyrrha agreed. "None of us were expecting this."

"We should go see her." Jaune suggested.

"You need rest and medical attention first, Jaune." Pyrrha scolded. "I'm not letting my fiancé die the day he finally proposes to me."

"Fiancé, huh?" Jaune mulled the word over. "I like how it sounds."

"You better." Pyrrha grumbled as they arrived at the medical area. They saw Velvet, who was moving from soldier to soldier robotically, treating them with her aura if they were seriously injured, and using regular first aid techniques if their injuries were not life threatening. "Velvet." Pyrrha called out. Velvet turned and looked at the approaching couple blankly. "Um…" Pyrrha offered when Velvet gave no response. "Is there somewhere I can leave Jaune?" Velvet just pointed to a row of empty blankets on the far side of the treatment area. "Thanks, Velvet."

"Looks like she's still stuck in autopilot." Jaune commented. Velvet had been like this ever since she had begun cleaning up Blake, before the battle. As Pyrrha helped ease him to the ground onto a blanket, Jaune saw a body carefully wrapped in a separate blanket. He recognized the outline of the body as Blake's. "Velvet must have carried her along." Jaune observed sadly.

"She wouldn't leave her behind." An approaching voice said. Jaune and Pyrrha turned to see Weiss walking towards them, with her eyes red and her uniform dirty and ragged. "How are you two?"

"Tired and injured, but alive." Jaune answered from his spot on the ground. "More than some of our friends can say anymore."

Weiss closed her eyes sadly. "It's all my fault. I should have been ready for something to go as wrong as it did."

"What happened?" Pyrrha asked.

"Colonel Sten and his forces were ambushed and killed in the forest before they could flank our enemy. And once that happened, everything else just spiraled out of control." Weiss explained, rubbing her temples.

"At least we managed to get away without losing everyone." Jaune shrugged.

"We lost thousands today." Weiss responded. "That's more than we've ever lost before."

"But we're still alive to fight another day." Pyrrha said hopefully. Almost as if on cue, an alarm sounded throughout the camp.

"I'd hold that thought if I were you." Weiss said, holding a hand over her earpiece so she could hear the report over the sirens. The news caused the color to drain from her face.

"What is it?" Jaune asked.

"They didn't fall back to recover. Vacuo is approaching again." Weiss answered in a rush.

"That's ridiculous, their men must be exhausted!" Pyrrha yelled, incredulous.

"They must think they can finish us off now and save themselves the trouble of any more battles." Jaune said.

"They aren't wrong." Weiss said, drawing looks of surprise from both Jaune and Pyrrha. "We're also exhausted, and too tired to run away."

"This certainly isn't good." Jaune finished, getting to his feet.

"What are you doing?" Pyrrha asked nervously, moving to hold Jaune in place.

"I'm not staying here while the rest of our army fights for their lives." Jaune growled, staggering towards the front lines. Pyrrha had no argument, and so she just followed behind her fiancé and helped him walk steady. Weiss could only sigh. What could they do at this point? She followed her two friends to the front lines, joining her soldiers on the battlefield for the first time since she took control.

 

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Weiss watched the approaching army with a strange sense of calm acceptance. She knew that this was the end, and somehow found that fact calming. There was no more uncertainty in her world. Her army was arrayed behind her, all the hunters and soldiers spread out to face their enemy head on. "I think this is the first time I'm actually fighting on the field since I took control of the army." Weiss mused.

Jaune and Pyrrha, who were both on Weiss' left, chuckled. "Well, desperate times call for desperate measures." Jaune remarked. "You have to get your hands dirty sometime."

They watched as the enemy army approached, growing larger. "I suppose this isn't the time to say I'm not ready for this." Pyrrha said half-jokingly.

"No, not really." Weiss agreed. The sun was beginning its descent from the sky, and the afternoon sky began to change its color. The angle of the sun was playing tricks on Weiss' eyes, though. She was seeing small spots in the sky.

Both Weiss and Pyrrha were beginning to notice that Jaune was shifting uneasily on his feet. "Jaune? What's wrong?" Pyrrha asked with concern.

"You guys don't smell that?" Jaune asked, fanning his nose.

Weiss sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything out of the ordinary. What's it smell like?"

"It smells gross. I can't quite describe it." Jaune said, pinching his nose. He let go after a few moments. "I feel like I can still smell it even when I stop breathing through my nose." His face was a grimace of disgust.

During this brief exchange between Weiss and Jaune, Pyrrha had frozen with an expression of shock on her face. "Jaune!" Pyrrha said fervently. "You're not smelling anything! Remember your training?"

Jaune stopped fanning his nose, and thought back to the training that Pyrrha referenced. "About bad smells? Bad feelings?"

"With Vimentis! Remember what he said it was like sensing Grimm with your aura?" Pyrrha said, grabbing Jaune's hand. "He said it felt disgusting, like the smell of sewage you couldn't get out of your nose."

Both Weiss and Jaune lost what little color remained in their faces. "Grimm?" A nearby soldier gasped. "There haven't been Grimm sightings anywhere in almost a year!" At this, the news began to spread throughout the army.

Weiss figured telling them not to panic would do nothing, so she didn't bother. "Jaune, can you feel a direction, or something? Anything more than just a feeling? Maybe you're just sick? A concussion?"

Jaune closed his eyes, and tried to focus his aura to possibly feel if he could sense something more specific than what he was already sensing. "It feels like there are Grimm in every direction." Weiss looked around them, but didn't see any Grimm anywhere. Jaune's eyes snapped open, and he turned towards a section of the Greatwood Forest between the two armies. "Over there. Something big."

Weiss tapped her earpiece. "All huntsman and huntresses to the front lines. I repeat, all huntsman and huntresses to me! We have Grimm!" Weiss ordered. There was a commotion in the army as all the surviving hunters rushed to Weiss' position on the front lines, weapons at the ready despite their exhaustion. Weiss was disheartened to see that they had less than forty hunters now, when they used to have so many more. "Everyone else, defensive formations!" Running away from Grimm only encouraged them to attack, so taking up defensive positions was safer option at times like these.

Weiss' army followed orders, despite their fear, and quickly did their best to forge some defensive lines. Jaune's prediction soon proved true as the hunters on the front lines saw movement in the shadows of the enormous trees of Greatwood Forest. "I thought you said there was something big." Weiss whispered to Jaune.

"It's getting closer." Jaune said. His eyes were wide with fear. "It's so big." Whatever he was sensing was frightening him more than anything in his life had before.

The Vacuoan army had spotted the movement in the forest as well, but without hunters of their own they couldn't quite be sure of what was going on. Weiss believed that the Vacuoan commanders must believe Weiss had left a force in the woods again. She could feel the ground rumbling beneath her feet. "I don't know whether to hope that the ground shaking is because it's just a lot of small Grimm, or a few big ones." Weiss said, remembering the size of the gargantuan alpha boarbatusks from her time training at the fortress.

They could see the Grimm now, hovering around the forest's edge. There were all sorts of Grimm, including many species that Weiss didn't recognize. The Grimm paced back and forth at the tree line, looking impatient and restless. "What are they doing?" Pyrrha asked. "Are they waiting for something?"

"It's coming!" Jaune whispered.

As soon as Jaune finished his exclamation, the packs of Grimm parted and the hunters could see a figure emerge from the forest. The distance between them was great, but Weiss was able to see some details of the figure, and it appeared to be a human woman. "What?" Weiss asked, confused. There was no explanation for why Grimm would ignore a person in their midst and not attack them.

The woman was fairly tall, wearing a long, sleek black dress that covered her from her neck to her hands and ankles, leaving no skin exposed except for what was on her face. The dress was tight across the woman's upper body, leaving no extra fabric to flap around and get in the way of anything. The lower half of the dress was loose and flowing, with a slit down the front for mobility that revealed black tights underneath when the wind picked up as she walked. Over the tights were a pair of black boots that came up to her just under her knees. Her hair was long and straight, falling nearly to her waist and fanning out behind her in the wind. She had a rough cut set of bangs that partially obscured her the far right side of her face; not enough to obscure her vision but enough to cast part of her face in shadow. Her hair appeared black, and streaked with a deep and dark red coloring. The woman was too far away for Weiss to make out facial features though, or any small details.

Regardless, all these details escaped Weiss' notice. She was too distracted. Weiss was staring at the woman's gloved hand, which was holding a weapon near and dear to Weiss' memories. The red and black scythe, Crescent Rose. "…Ruby?" Weiss whispered.

"Is that Crescent Rose?" Jaune asked in disbelief. "How did that woman get that?"

Weiss made to run forward to the woman, desperate to confront this ghost from the past, whether it was Ruby or someone with Ruby's weapon. She felt a hand grab her wrist, stopping her and jerking her back. Weiss turned to look at the one holding her, and saw Velvet grasping her wrist tightly. "Let me go, Velvet! I need to find out!"

"You do, but not now!" Velvet yelled. "Look at all those Grimm. You won't make it there alive on your own."

"What if that was Blake over there?" Weiss shot back.

Velvet eyes watered, and she twitched like she had just been punched in the gut, but she held strong to Weiss' wrist. "Then I would wait. Now isn't the time!"

If Velvet had anymore to say, it was dwarfed by what sounded like a low rumble of thunder, and the ground shook beneath their feet. "It's here!" Jaune said, pointing straight at the woman.

"That woman's a Grimm?" Pyrrha asked just as another rumble shook the ground.

Jaune didn't need to answer as the source of the rumbling revealed itself. A gigantic creature emerged from the forest, dwarfing any Grimm that the hunters had ever seen before. It reminded Weiss of some sort of giant, two legged, reptilian monster, standing at least twice as tall as some of the largest Grimm she had ever seen previously. It had a very lizard-like head, with a long snout and mouth filled with razor sharp teeth longer than Weiss' arm. The skull plate covered the entire top half of the skull, and ended at the base, where the skull met its neck.

It's colossal body was covered in what looked like a rough, thick, black, leathery hide that was covered in a plethora of scars, covered in various spots with bone plate. Some of the bone plates were scratched and damaged, further evidence of its many battles. Another set of bony spikes ran down it's spine, sharp and intimidating. The spikes trailed down all the way to the end of its tail, which was more than twice as long as the rest of its body and ended in a bony spike that looked like it could impale an alpha boarbatusk without any problems.

It's massive body was supported by two equally massive legs, with thick, powerful muscles that looked capable of propelling its huge body with great speed. The legs ended in wickedly sharp looking three-clawed feet that left deep impressions in the ground wherever it strode. It's arms were far shorter than its legs, but seemed equally capable of inflicting terrible damage with their clawed, two fingered hands. The creature appeared far more deadly and powerful than anything Weiss, or any of the hunters, had ever seen or heard of before. They weren't even sure how they would go about hurting something so large and powerful.

The creature paused behind the human woman, the rumbling in the ground stopping as its footsteps paused. The Vacuoan army had obviously seen the Grimm now, and were busy moving northward, as far from the forest as they could get, while still maintain a defensive line. They were all but ignoring Weiss and her forces, repositioning all their forces to protect themselves against the Grimm threat. The giant Grimm bent its knees, crouching down low to the ground and lowering its head to place it on the forest floor beneath it.

The woman then leapt up onto the Grimm's head, standing up on its skull plate as it stood straight again, riding the Grimm's skull. Once the creature had straightened, Weiss heard the woman yelling something while pointing Crescent Rose at the army before her, at Vacuo. Weiss couldn't hear what the woman actually said, but that didn't matter, because what happened next gave her a general idea.

The giant Grimm she was riding let out a titanic, deep, ground shaking roar; a primal sound that shook Weiss and her allies to their very bones. Then the horde of Grimm charged out of the forest, swarming in untold numbers towards the Vacuoan army.


	22. Silver Lining of a Dark Cloud

None of the huntsman and huntresses could believe what they were seeing. Dozens of different species of Grimm, many of them previously undiscovered, charging in unison and not attacking each other. It was just unheard of. It was something that every aspiring hunter learned, at Beacon or otherwise: Grimm did not getting along with other species of Grimm. In fact, many Grimm did not even get along with other Grimm of their own species. But here, all the rules of Grimm behaviors seemed to have gone out the window.

The fastest Grimm, the Beowolves, soon outpaced their fellows and pulled ahead of the other Grimm. Eager for blood, they charged at the Vacuoan forces with abandon. However, Vacuo retaliated with weapons fire and sent a withering hail of weapons fire into the oncoming Grimm. Even if the soldiers weren't trained as hunters, if you shot enough bullets at Grimm it was sure to do enough damage eventually. Beowolves began falling all over as the bullets ripped into them, cutting them down and leaving their dissolving corpses smoking on the ground.

For a brief moment, it appeared that Vacuo could hold their ground against the swarming creatures. Then the illusion was shattered as the first waves of Beowolves crashed into the Vacuoan lines, sinking their teeth into flesh and tearing them with their claws. The next moments revealed that no soldier could stand up to the Grimm in a melee as the soldiers fell to Beowolves in swathes. The soldiers were further disrupted as the rest of the slower Grimm beasts approached their faster brethren from behind- the rolling Boarbatusks, the skittering Deathstalkers, the Lumbering ursi. The previously unknown species proved themselves just as powerful as the others. The enormous cats, the plodding tortoises, the horned bulls. The Grimm tore into the Vacuoans with a bloodlust.

Weiss and her hunters could only watch with horror on their faces as the Grimm chewed into the Vacuoan army. Nearly a third of the enemy soldiers were cut down in only minutes, the overwhelming darkness that was the Grimm just slowly eating away at the Vacuoan force. That didn't mean the Vacuoans weren't fighting back, to their credit. The soldiers fell back as their war machines and robots charged forward to take the brunt of the attacks, their powerful motors and armored shells far more suited to weathering the attacks of the ferocious Grimm.

The mechanical forces stood their ground against the Grimm. The claws and teeth of the smaller Grimm posed little threat to the large walking robots and the other war machines, only scratching and scarring the metal while both the robots and the soldiers retaliated with weapons fire. With the Grimm's advance grinding to a slower speed, Vacuo was doing a better job of holding their ground.

This stubborn defense only lasted another few minutes though, as the slower, larger, and stronger creatures of Grimm entered the fray. Deathstalkers used their great pincers to grab and crush the robots and machines while King Taijitu burst forth from the ground and coiled around the larger machines, squeezing them into hunks of scrap metal.

The Vacuoan air forces were faring no better. The dots that Weiss had thought came from the sun playing tricks on her were actually many forms of flying Grimm floating high in the sky, waiting for the signal. There were giant bat-like creatures, swarms of insects the size of people, and the giant Nevermore species, among others. The smaller species swarmed the gunships, bringing them down with their combined weight as they tore into the ships and left them falling helplessly. The larger species, such as the one that resembled giant bats or the Nevermore, simply plucked airships from the sky in their talons or jaws and destroyed them that way. There were many Grimm dying in the sky, but the airships couldn't hope to compete with the maneuverability of a living creature and were losing quickly.

"We need to help them!" Pyrrha said emphatically to Weiss.

"The soldiers or the Grimm?" Velvet asked with a hint of venom in her voice.

"The soldiers!" Pyrrha said. "They're people too, and the Grimm are of the darkness! We have an obligation as hunters to fight them!"

"No, I don't think I do." Velvet growled back.

"How can you say that?" Pyrrha was aghast.

"It's easy. They killed almost everyone I love." Velvet countered. Pyrrha and Velvet's argument sparked further arguments among the other hunters around them on the front lines. The hunters were pretty evenly split on whether to help the Vacuoan soldiers, or to leave them to their fate. Lines were being formed and hunters were arguing across them on both sides as the disagreement spread.

"Everyone quiet!" Weiss yelled, silencing everyone and drawing attention to herself. She was fuming. She didn't have time to deal with this. "We're not helping either side." Pyrrha and her supporters began to protest, but Weiss cut them off. "I'm not taking a side, I'm trying to keep us alive. Look at how many there are!" Weiss pointed and the hordes of Grimm. "There are less than forty of us. We wouldn't survive the battle, and if we're dead than we can't help anyone." Weiss explained loudly so everyone could hear her. "I'm ordering a retreat. Our soldiers can pull back while us hunters form the rear guard and make sure we don't get caught off guard by the Grimm." Weiss held a finger to her earpiece as she sent out the retreat orders to the army's officers, who readily agreed and began leading the troops away to the east as fast as possible.

"We're leaving?" Pyrrha asked incredulously as she watched the army retreat.

"Yes, Pyrrha. Dying here won't help anyone." Weiss said again as she stood and watched the Grimm in the distance warily. "But if you want to protect people from Grimm, I think you're about to have your chance." Weiss finished, drawing Myrtenaster. Pyrrha turned back around to face the Grimm and Vacuoan conflict and to see what had prompted Weiss to draw her weapon. A large pack of Beowolves had taken notice of the movement of Weiss' army and broke free of the main horde of Grimm. They were running at Weiss and the hunters now, growling and roaring in anticipation.

"Looks like about a hundred of them." Jaune observed. "Maybe three per hunter? Easy enough." Jaune rolled his shoulders to loosen them up after he drew his sword and shield.

"Hunters, ready." Weiss ordered. The others readied their weapons. "This is nice and simple. Don't rush ahead, let them come to us." Weiss started to draw lightly on her aura, gathering some energy in preparation for creating her glyphs. The Beowolves were rushing on all fours, already salivating in anticipation of a kill.

But when the Grimm were a hundred feet away, there was a flash of black rose petals in between the hunters and the Grimm, and suddenly the woman who was standing on top of the gigantic Grimm creature previously was now standing in between the Beowolves and the hunters. The rose petals that Weiss would have expected to be red were instead an inky black color, and they dissolved into dust in the wind only seconds after their appearance. The charging pack of Beowolves skidded, stumbled, and tumbled to a stop before the woman, her black dress fluttering in the sudden breeze as the tip of Crescent Rose rested on the ground at her side.

The Grimm shifted nervously, clearly anxious to get to the humans in front of them but unwilling to approach the woman who had intervened. They whined and paced, but made no further attempt to move towards Weiss and the other hunters. Pyrrha broke the uneasy silence. "…Do we charge now?" She said nervously, trying to crack a joke.

"I'd rather we didn't." Weis said cautiously. She watched as the woman in front of them raised her empty, gloved hand and pointed back behind the Beowolves, towards the Vacuoan soldiers fighting the other Grimm. The Grimm shied away from her, and looked back over their shoulders at the fight before looking back again at the woman. And then, as if by some unseen command, all the Beowolves turned tail at once and ran back to rejoin the battle against Vacuo.

As the Beowolves returned to the battle, the woman let her arm fall back to her side. "Ruby!" Weiss called out, breaking formation to move towards the woman. "Ruby!"

But once again, she found herself being held back. "Let me go, Velvet! There are no Grimm in the way this time!" Weiss struggled to free her arm, but the grip was stronger than Velvet's was. Weiss looked back to see that it was Jaune who had stopped her this time, his face white. "Jaune, let me go! I need to see if that's Ruby!"

"You don't want that to be Ruby, Weiss." Jaune said. "You really, really don't."

"Why wouldn't I?" Weiss asked incredulously, the very idea of it stunning her and causing her to cease her struggles against Jaune.

"I don't sense a person there." He explained in a whisper, just loud enough so that Weiss could hear. Velvet and Pyrrha, who were right behind them, also were listening. "I sense a Grimm. And only Grimm"

"That's ridiculous!" Weiss exclaimed, turning back to the woman who Weiss wholeheartedly believed was her former partner. "It's Ruby." She started forward again.

"Weiss!" It was Pyrrha who grabbed Weiss' arm this time.

"I won't run towards her." Weiss said in an attempt to convince her friends to stop holding her back. "I'll just walk slowly, okay?" Pyrrha was hesitant, but let go. Weiss continued to walk towards the back of the woman in front of her. "Ruby?" She called out to the woman. "It's me, Wei-" The rest of Weiss' words caught in her throat as the woman turned her head to look over her shoulder and face Weiss.

The woman looked just like Ruby, if Ruby had finished her growth into a woman. The same chin, the same curve or the jaw, the same nose, the same hair line. All these features screamed to Weiss that this woman was the Ruby that Weiss remembered, with almost two years of aging added to the memory. Except for her eyes. Ruby had eyes that shone silver, like the moonlight on a still lake. Even after all this time, Weiss could never forget Ruby's eyes. She could remember every detail of the eyes she had fallen for.

But the eyes in front of her were not those eyes. These eyes glowed red, shining with a malicious and predatory light. These eyes were the eyes of a Grimm. The glowing eyes were empty of everything except for anger, rage, hunger, and all the other primal and base emotions that made up the creatures of Grimm. They were the eyes of a soulless creature.

"…Ruby?" Weiss asked hopefully, trying to convince herself she wasn't seeing what she was seeing. She tried to take a step towards the woman again, but two sets of hands pulled her back.

"That's not Ruby." Pyrrha grunted, pulling back an uncooperative Weiss alongside Jaune. "That thing can't be our friend. It's a creature of Grimm."

"It's her. She looks just like her!" Weiss protested. "We have to try to save her!"

"We can't do anything right now, Weiss!" Jaune said. "We have to leave."

As Weiss reached out for the woman again, the woman disappeared in a flurry of black rose petals. Weiss searched the battlefield frantically, trying to locate the woman now that Jaune and Pyrrha had released her. Weiss spotted the woman again quickly; she had reappeared in her spot atop the head of the titanic sized Grimm, which was still standing in place at the edge of the forest where it had roared its battle cry. The woman pointed towards the Vacuoan army with Crescent Rose again, and the Grimm let out another ground shaking roar.

This time though, the Grimm charged forward after the roar, rather than leaving it to the seemingly unending hordes of other Grimm. Weiss was amazed at the speed at which the creature traveled- she had thought that its huge frame would weigh it down, and that it would be a slow but strong beast. She couldn't have been more wrong. Its monstrously large body raced across the field towards the Vacuoan army, the other Grimm parting before it. The Grimm that moved too slow or didn't notice it were either crushed underfoot or kicked away if they were unlucky enough to be in a position where its massive feet came down on top of them. The giant creature clearly had no regard for the well being of its fellow Grimm, which was possibly the first thing that made sense about this whole situation.

When the Grimm stomped into what remained of the Vacuoan forces, its very footsteps threw aside soldiers and machines alike. It reflexes were astonishingly quick as it slashed and swatted at soldiers with its clawed hands and stomped and kicked with its feet. When a large, four legged robot used a high energy laser and shot its leg from the side, all it did was leave a small smoking spot on its tough hide before the Grimm lashed out with its tail, using it as a spear and impaling the robot then throwing it aside.

The woman had also joined the fray, forgoing her position atop the Grimm for a more personal approach on the battlefield. Crescent Rose cut a deadly swathe through soldiers and machines alike, tearing through armor and flesh with equal ease. Weiss was amazed at the strength that the woman wielded, but noticed that the fighting style was very different from Ruby's. When Ruby fought, it reminded Weiss of a dance. Her fighting was full of twirling, spinning, leaping, and broad sweeps that incorporated the recoil from firing Crescent Rose. This woman did not use any of that- her combat was primal and vicious, without any of the elegance that Ruby wielded. Between the woman, the Grimm she rode in on, and all of the other Grimm, Vacuo's army was swiftly defeated, with no survivors. Even the airships that had attempted to retreat had been caught by the airborne Grimm and taken out of the skies.

"How far away are our men?" Weiss asked. The hunters had been making a slow retreat, forming a rear guard against Grimm while the rest of their army fled at full speed. Now that the Vacuoan army was destroyed, Weiss feared that the Grimm would turn on the next closest group of people.

Jaune contacted the communications officers through his earpiece. "What's your location?" He listened with his hand to his ear as the officer reported back. "They're a couple miles back now, and assure me that they have no intentions of slowing down their retreat." Jaune reported back to Weiss with a shrug.

"That's good news, at least." Weiss said. "Because I suspect we may not have that option." She finished as the horde of Grimm had turned to face the hunters.

"That's a whole lot of Grimm." Weiss heard one of the hunters observe. A young woman with straight blond hair.

"We won't be able to hold out for long. " Pyrrha said, slowly backing away with the rest of the hunters as some of the Grimm began to creep in their direction.

"Split into groups and fight as a unit." Weiss ordered. "Increase survivability and we might be able to buy enough time for our army to escape and warn the rest of our people."

"No chance you have a plan for getting us out alive then?" Jaune asked, his voice somewhere between playful and despondent.

"Not really, no." Weiss grunted in response.

"Oh well." Jaune shrugged again. "At least we'll be fighting Grimm, like we're meant to be."

"Yeah." Pyrrha agreed, moving to stand closer to Jaune with her shield and sword raised. Weiss and Velvet moved to join them as the other hunters separated into groups, using their experience to form well balanced groups that would increase their time alive. Weiss chuckled as she briefly wondered what kind of name Ozpin would have given this group of four she had just formed with Velvet, Jaune, and Pyrrha.

"Something funny?" Velvet asked, looking ahead at the Grimm as more of the creatures began moving towards them.

"Just a strange thought that doesn't matter." Weiss answered. "Gallows humor, I suppose."

"I see." Velvet said as more and more Grimm began noticing the small group of hunters and turning towards them. More than Weiss had ever seen before. There were so many that the very sunlight seemed dimmer from their presence.

But just as everyone was on the verge of accepting their inevitable death, the colossal Grimm let out another deafening roar that caused the rest of the Grimm to stop in their tracks. The woman was standing on the giant Grimm's head again, pointing her scythe the other direction, towards Vacuo. As the Grimm saw this, they abandoned their desire to attack the hunters and turned towards Vacuo and began moving towards the opposing kingdom.

Weiss and the hunters stood dumbfounded and the rumbling ground slowly faded. The Grimm were leaving, and moving further into Vacuo rather than pursing the next closest prey as their instincts should've wanted. The woman had spared them. "I can't believe that just happened." Jaune said, dropping his sword and shield to the ground and falling on his behind. "I thought for sure we were dead."

"Not that I'm complaining, but why aren't we?" Pyrrha asked, her body involuntarily mirroring and joining Jaune's on the ground. The rest of the hunters all had similar reactions, most falling to the ground from either exhaustion, relief, or a mix of the two. They had stood up to fight the Grimm through sheer willpower, ignoring their protesting bodies, but now there appeared to be no need and they let their tired bodies win the mental battle.

"It's Ruby." Weiss said with conviction. "She won't attack us because we weren't the ones who attacked Beacon and started the war."

"It's not Ruby, Weiss." Jaune said, flopping down onto his back. "You saw what we all saw. You saw what I sensed. It's some dark creature we've never seen before."

"There were a lot of Grimm we've never seen before." Pyrrha added. "Just goes to show how little of our own world we've explored."

"Just because there were a lot of Grimm we haven't seen before doesn't mean Ruby is one." Weiss countered angrily.

"I'm not saying it was Ruby." Jaune said in an attempt to placate Weiss. "I'm just saying it was a creature of Grimm."

Weiss stood in silence, unwilling to argue the point any further with her friends. It was taking all of her willpower to not try to follow the Grimm and the woman she believed to be Ruby. "I have to believe that the woman is Ruby." She said. "And I have to believe that I can save her. I fought this entire war for Ruby. I can't back out now. I'm going to find out the truth."

"You can't, Weiss. At least, not yet." Pyrrha interjected. "The war with Vacuo is over. There is much we have to do. And we have to prepare in the event that the Grimm aren't so kind to us in the future."

"And let's be honest, Weiss." Velvet added. "It won't be hard to track that thing. Its footprints will be there for a very long time."

"Okay, fine. You're right. There's a lot to do, and a lot we still don't quite know." Weiss conceded. "But I'm a bit lost on what we tell everyone."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"We only won the war by virtue that we weren't slaughtered by Grimm. Do we tell people that the Grimm killed them? That we won? The end of the war is no comfort if there's an organized army of Grimm waiting to attack." Weiss was bringing up points they hadn't thought ahead to yet. "And if people think we somehow got the Grimm to work with us? What happens then? There's no way to hide the fact that today, we were only moments away from the last battle. A battle we would've lost horribly."

The hunters who had heard Weiss sat in silence, unable to come up with any answers to the questions she brought up. They were indeed presented with a dilemma, especially as hunters. "We could report it as it is." Jaune suggested from his spot on the ground. "We fought the war. We did our best, and it wasn't enough. Then we can present the data that Blake and her squad acquired. That should deflect most of the attention off of us, whether the feelings towards us are positive or negative. And then we can tell them what happened with the Grimm. It won't be quite as horrifying or demoralizing if even a portion of the people draw some sort of connection in their minds between the crimes that those three committed and the Grimm being some sort of karma." Jaune finished, still laying down and staring at the sky above him.

Weiss raised an eyebrow, impressed. "And then we finish by saying that huntsman and huntresses will mobilize to fight this new Grimm threat. You're a lot more devious than I gave you credit for, Jaune. That would work pretty well."

"I'm not sure whether that's a compliment or not." Jaune chuckled.

"Either way, we should get going." Pyrrha added.

"Yes." Weiss agreed. "Let's get back to base and see what we can do about all this."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It took only one full day's drive to get back to their headquarters, far away from where their last battle had taken place. Two days after their return, Pyrrha and Jaune were walking through the white hallways of the building and heading to the Lord Commander's Office to visit her. The pair had been busy since their return, acting as the face of the military as representatives in place of Weiss. In addition, they were doing their part in putting the plan Jaune had come up with in action. While they were very busy, it was a peaceful sort of busy that they thought was both very much missed, yet slightly unfamiliar at the same time.

Most of their efforts had been devoted to assisting Vacuo's civilians. Once Jaune and Pyrrha had released the information about how and why the war had started, the citizens of Vacuo had been both horrified and disgusted at their blind faith in their leaders. One of the effects of this was that when the Grimm began moving in, the Vacuoan citizens turned to their former enemies for help rather than their own military. Jaune and Pyrrha had readily obliged, using every ship that they could get their hands on, both airborne and waterborne. The pair did this so they could attempt to evacuate the citizens before the Grimm could get them. Jaune and Pyrrha were also lucky in that the Grimm seemed to ignore the ships they sent to rescue the civilians because they were too busy attacking the rest of the military and whatever people attempted to fight back. Thanks to this stroke of luck, Jaune and Pyrrha managed to evacuate most of the civilians before the Grimm got to them. Not all, unfortunately, but most. They were also relieved that so far the Grimm had made no attempt to leave Vacuo and move towards the rest of the world.

In contrast to the public images that Jaune and Pyrrha had become, Weiss had dropped off the radar in a sense. She just provided the occasional plan or prepared statement for Jaune and Weiss to deliver to officials or the public, but otherwise remained secluded in her offices or in one of the command centers throughout various headquarters. Even though Jaune and Pyrrha were consistently receiving messages from Weiss, they hadn't seen her in person. They were beginning to worry about her, which was the reason they were going to visit Weiss in person this morning.

"How long until you think we can leave and get married?" Jaune asked, holding Pyrrha's hand as they continued their walk to their destination.

"Jaune, a wedding takes lots of planning. You don't throw one together in a couple of days. Even if we weren't busy, it would still be a while." Pyrrha scolded gently.

"Seriously? I never thought that hard about it." Jaune admitted.

"That is why I will be doing the planning, and not you." She said with a loving grin, squeezing Jaune's hand lightly.

"Do I at least have some say?" Jaune asked, nudging Pyrrha with his elbow.

"You can choose who in your family we will invite." Pyrrha laughed.

"I'm glad you trust me with such a huge responsibility." Jaune rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

It was then that they arrived at Weiss' office door, which was plain steel with a wooden placard that had the words "Lord Commander Schnee" engraved into it. Jaune reached up and knocked before waiting for Weiss to allow them in. But as the moments went by, there was no answer. Jaune knocked again, louder, but with the same results. "Think she's not in?" Pyrrha asked.

"I dunno. Let's see." Jaune grabbed the handle and gently opened the door. "Weiss?" He poked his head around the door and checked the inside of the office. There wasn't anyone in there, and the many bookshelves were empty and the desk was clear. Jaune opened the door all the way so Pyrrha could see the room as well. "Did someone move the name placard as a prank?" Jaune asked, scratching his head.

"I don't think so." Pyrrha answered, looking around the room from the doorway. "It's not exactly something someone would do on a military base, especially to a Lord Commander like Weiss who was always so serious." Pyrrha stepped into the room to get a better look at the interior, with Jaune following her. The room did look strangely empty.

"Pyrrha, take a look at this." Jaune said, pointing at the desk as he walked towards it. There was a large manila envelope set on the center of the desk that they hadn't noticed from the doorway. Pyrrha and Jaune moved to the envelope to take a look, and were surprised to see that scrawled across the front of it in very nice handwriting was their names. "'To Jaune and Pyrrha.'" Jaune read as he picked it up.

"I guess we should open it then." Pyrrha shrugged. Jaune obliged and undid the string that held the envelope closed, pulling the contents out into his hands.

"It's a letter." Jaune observed. Pyrrha leaned over so she could read it as well while Jaune unfolded it. It was written it a fine calligraphy that they recognized as being Weiss' handwriting.

_Dear Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos, ___

_If you're reading this then you must've tried to finally meet me in person. I don't know how long that would've taken you, but I suspect it only took a couple days. No matter how long it took you though, I am already long gone. I'm sorry for not telling you the truth, but we all know you would've stopped me._

_The plans you've been getting messaged from me were all written on the day we traveled back home. I wrote them all ahead of time, because I've already planned my departure. The rest of the messages are set to be sent for you at timed intervals from a computer in the command room that I set up. If you go there and access my personal computer, you can have all the rest of the orders all at once._

_With that said, I'm using my power as the highest ranking military official, the Lord Commander, to promote Major General Arc and Major General Nikos to Lord Commander Arc and Lord Commander Nikos. The pins and paperwork are in the envelope. And now that that is done, I quit. I would've written a letter of resignation, but that takes a while and there's a lot of extra paperwork that I don't want to bother with anymore. The appropriate form has been filled out on the next page._

_I've left to go find Ruby. She is almost the entire reason I stuck with this war, and now that it's over I'm going to go find her. I know you two are better people than me, which is why I think you should be the ones to be in charge of things now. I'm not someone who can lead a reconstruction, nor am I someone that has the faith in people that you do. So I wish you two the best of luck. I'll return once I find Ruby. Don't waste resources trying to find me. I wish you two the best of luck as leaders in this new, peaceful, post-war era._

_Farewell,_

_Weiss Schnee_

__Jaune lowered the letter once they both finished reading. "Wow." He said._ _

__"I think that about sums it up." Pyrrha agreed. They stood in silence for a few moments before Jaune turned the envelope over his hand, catching the two pairs of pins that fell out. He raised the pins so they could see them clearly, the cast silver beveled shields with a pair of crossed long swords behind them. "I can't believe she left like that and we didn't notice." Pyrrha said as she picked up one set of pins._ _

__"So much for everyone spending more time together once the war ended." Jaune grumbled._ _

__"Not to be a downer, but that was something we said when more of our friends were here rather than… not." Pyrrha said sadly. "There are so few of us left."_ _

__"I can't disagree." Jaune admitted. "I hope she comes back out of this all right."_ _

__Pyrrha raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You're not going to say we have to go after her or something?"_ _

__Jaune shook his head. "She said not to, and she's far smarter than I am. And plus, we have no idea where she went beside possibly 'in the general direction of Vacuo,' which is not much of a help with all the Grimm."_ _

__"We'll just have to trust and hope that she comes back alive then?" Pyrrha asked._ _

__"We will indeed, Lord Commander Nikos." Jaune smiled, setting the letter back on the desk. "Like I said, she's much smarter than we are. If she wants to leave and not get discovered, then we are going to have a very, very difficult time finding her. And we have a lot more responsibility on our hands now as well, it seems._ _

__"Okay then, Lord Commander Arc." Pyrrha grinned and left the room with Jaune. "So that reminds me of something. Am I going to take your last name? Are you taking mine? Are we combining them?"_ _

__"I hadn't given that much thought either." Jaune admitted. "Pyrrha Arc. Jaune Nikos." He rolled the sounds around in his mouth. "Arc-Nikos? Nikos-Arc? I personally favor my last name. Rolls off the tongue, you know?"_ _

__"I propose we duel for last name rights." Pyrrha suggested, punching Jaune in the arm lightly._ _

__"I guess you get to pick then." Jaune groaned.__


	23. A Light in the Darkness

__Weiss calmly walked through a forest deep in Vacuo, far deeper into the kingdom than the war had ever taken her. Or farther than she had ever needed to study on a map, unfortunately. She had spent the first day of her journey to find Ruby questioning refugees from Vacuo under the guise of a rescue officer, asking about congregations of Grimm they may have noticed, or more specifically, the gigantic reptilian Grimm that the woman was riding on. Weiss had good luck gathering information on the giant Grimm because it stood out so much to anyone who saw it. And if the people hadn't necessarily seen it, they were far more likely to have heard it because its roar carried for miles._ _

__The bits of information gathered over the course of two days were sufficient to consistently point Weiss in the same direction over and over again, and each time she asked for more information the general direction became more and more refined. On her third day searching, Weiss had finally discovered a path that the giant had walked. She had discovered its large footprints in a field just outside a city, leading away from the ruined city and towards a forest far on the horizon. Weiss had followed the footsteps, taking care to avoid the roaming packs of Grimm until she finally reached the forest she was currently traveling through._ _

__"Ew." Weiss complained as she accidentally stepped into a shallow puddle of mud, staining her white boots. She was definitely not as adept at traversing the wilds as Blake or Ruby once were, only having the basic navigational knowledge that hunters received. Even camping with the army, Weiss had always been able to access a large map with their positions clearly marked, or at least consult with her navigational officers. Now she only had her scroll, but unfortunately she had no signal so she couldn't track her position. She contemplated the merits of ascending a tree to acquire a signal, but decided that it wasn't really necessary because she didn't have a set destination. All she was doing was following the widely spaced footprints and the trail of wrecked foliage and snapped trees that had gotten in the creatures way._ _

__She had remained lucky in that she hadn't encountered any creatures of Grimm, except for early this morning when a giant Nevermore had flown by overhead. The creature hadn't noticed Weiss through the tree tops and kept on flying towards the ruined city. Weiss was glad for her luck in not having to fight any Grimm, but that gladness was tempered by the knowledge that the reason there were no Grimm in the forests was because they were all in or near the cities. From what Weiss had heard from the refugees and from what she had seen on her own, the hordes of Grimm had spread throughout Vacuo of their own accord and attacked cities, military bases, and other achievements of human civilization in swarms, overrunning the soldiers who tried to defend them while Vytal's forces evacuated the civilians._ _

__As Weiss was thinking about this, she heard what sounded like a waterfall in the distance, in the direction where the footsteps were leading her. She continued following the footsteps towards the sound of the roaring waterfall, wondering if Grimm ever bothered bathing. As she pondered this, Weiss heard a branch creak ominously from high above her, barely audible over the sound of the roaring waterfall. Fearing the worst, Weiss drew Myrtenaster from her side and dove away from where she was standing as a safety precaution against any attackers. She rolled to her feet, weapon raised and ready to defend, but there was nothing there. She looked up into the branches above where she was standing in an attempt to locate the source of the creaking tree branch, and saw what had made the noise. A Beowolf stared back at Weiss, creeping along a thick branch of a tree above where she was standing. It stared at Weiss with its glowing red eyes, and Weiss stared back. Their staring contest lasted only seconds before Weiss remembered that Beowolves hunted in packs, not alone._ _

__Weiss spun again, bringing her weapon up to defend as quickly as she could. But she was too slow and too late, and another Beowolf tackled her to the ground. Weiss lost her grip on her weapon as she fell, flying off to the side as she slammed into the ground with the Beowolf atop her. She moved to lash out with her fists, but they were trapped under the Beowolf's body as it pinned her to the ground. The creature pinned Weiss in place as she struggled to get free, and she found herself suddenly regretting not keeping her anti- Grimm combat skills sharp over the war._ _

__More Beowolves emerged from their hiding spot in the trees above Weiss, crawling down the trees towards Weiss and her captor. Weiss could only glare at the Beowolf as it bared its teeth at her, growling. It sniffed its nose at Weiss' throat, taking in the scent of its prey before executing its killing blow. But to Weiss' surprise, as soon as it got a nose-full of Weiss' scent, it began whining and backed off of Weiss quickly. Weiss used to opportunity to get her feet under her and leap towards her weapon, rolling to her feet and standing at a ready position with her back to a thick tree. The Beowolves had not pursued Weiss though, only whining as they backed away from her._ _

__Weiss was baffled. Why had they reacted to her scent in such a way? Surely a bit of body odor from her days on the move wasn't enough to scare away Grimm, or else humanity could've defeated the Grimm ages ago with sweaty towels. And yet, right here, the Beowolves were refusing to approach Weiss now that they had begun to smell her. Against all odds, the Beowolves retreated to the trees, leaping between branches away from Weiss and moving back towards the ruined city at great speed. Weiss watched them flee while keeping an eye on her surroundings at the same time to make sure she wasn't outmaneuvered again by mindless creatures. After a few minutes, Weiss was satisfied that there were no more Grimm in hiding nearby, even if she didn't understand why._ _

__Weiss continued moving towards the sound of the waterfall. As she emerged from the forest into the small clearing, she was greeted with a beautiful sight. The waterfall she had heard started high above her, its white waters majestically streaming off the cliff down into a deep pool below it, which was in front of Weiss now. Weiss tried peering down into its depths, but the water in the pool was too difficult to see very far into because of all the turbulence cause by the white water from the waterfall. She knew the large pool had to be extremely deep because it didn't have a river draining out of it on the surface, which meant that the water falling into it either had to be feeding into an underground river or some other sort of hidden waterway._ _

__The gravel and rocks around the water showed signs of being disturbed by a very large creature, which wEiss assumed was the colossal Grimm she was following. There were footsteps continuing past the deep pool though, meaning it had not stopped to drink, Which made sense to Weiss because Grimm did not need sustenance. Creatures of Grimm could eat and drink for pleasure and taste, but had no actual need of the nutrients a normal creature required from a meal._ _

__Weiss moved around the pool to continue following the footprints, when a flash of red at the edge of the waterfall caught her eye. Wary of more Grimm, Weiss drew her weapon again and focused in at the base of the waterfall, searching for the tell tale glowing red eyes of Grimm. After a moment of careful observation, Weiss spotted a cave entrance just to the side of the bottom of the waterfall, hidden from her sight before by the spray of water and a group of large boulders. The huntress approached the cave slowly and cautiously, carefully choosing her footsteps on the gravelly ground so that her footing wouldn't be compromised if she suddenly had to move._ _

__Weiss continued creeping closer, eyes searching the dark cave mouth as she approached. Her eyes finally settled on the flash of red she had seen- the folded up form of Crescent Rose, resting across the stomach of the woman in black. She was lying down on the cold, stony ground, eyes closed and breathing slowly, as if sleeping. Weiss' heart began to race. She had found the woman who looked like Ruby, and carried Ruby's weapon, and had to be Ruby. Weiss lowered her weapon to her side, but did not sheathe it, and began walking forward towards the woman._ _

__As she got closer, a particularly noisy patch of gravel managed to generate enough noise that the woman heard it in her sleep above the roar of the waterfall, causing her eyes to shoot open as she got to her feet so quickly that Weiss didn't see any of the movement between the two moments of stillness. One moment the woman was lying on the ground, the next she was standing with her hand in front of her, fingers arched and spread as if they actually had claws on the end of the fingers. Crescent Rose had fallen to the ground beside her, either ignored or forgotten in the moment._ _

__Weiss froze in place, not wanting to further frighten or alert the woman. Or get attacked by her. "Ruby, it's me, Weiss." Weiss tried not to think too hard on the implications of the woman's glowing red eyes, devoid of any irises or pupils. "You remember me, right? I'm your partner. Your friend." Weiss extended a hand, palm up, to try to see if the friendly gesture could evoke a response._ _

__The woman only stared, her eyes occasionally shifting to look down at the extended hand before her. Weiss took another chance, and stepped closer. The woman didn't move, but tensed up. "I've really missed you, Ruby. Everyone has." Weiss took another step forward. "You can talk to me, right? Say something." Weiss' voice began taking on a hint of a pleading tone, her confidence in her ability to connect to Ruby beginning to falter as she stared at the glowing red eyes. Weiss took yet another step forward. "Ruby-"_ _

__Whatever Weiss was going to say was immediately cut off as the woman blurred, dashing forward at an incredible speed and tackling Weiss shoulder first. The unexpected blow knocked the air out of Weiss, throwing her to the ground as the woman landed on top of her and moved to attack Weiss._ _

__Because of the earlier attack by the Beowolves, Weiss was still prepared for such an attack, as unexpected as it was, and twisted her body to slide down farther under the woman before she could do any damage with her hands. Weiss then bucked her hips from under the woman, throwing off the woman's sense of balance and staggering her. Weiss used the opening to slide all the way out from under her and tackle the woman from behind, wrapping her arms around the woman's torso, locking her arms in place so she could strike back as she brought her knees up to lock the woman's legs in place. "Ruby!" Weiss yelled, trying to get the woman to stop struggling. "Stop this! It's me! Your partner!"_ _

__The woman wasn't listening though, and continued trying to thrash around in an effort to escape from Weiss' hold. Weiss could feel that she was very much weaker than her opponent though, the woman's strength far exceeding what should have been possible for someone her size. Weiss was only able to tenaciously keep her grip because she had a really good position from behind, and because the woman was trying to primitively brute force her way through Weiss' grip, rather than use any sort of grappling technique to escape._ _

__Weiss tried to continue speaking to Ruby as she held on with all her strength. "Ruby, stop! I don't know what happened, but you need to stop!" The woman struggled harder, and Weiss could feel her strength slipping as the woman slowly began overpowering Weiss. "Please! Think about Yang, and your father!"_ _

__What Weiss said seemed to have an effect as the woman ceased her struggles, but only for a few moments before she started struggling again. While the woman didn't stop struggling, the brief pause at the mention of those two gave Weiss an idea. "Think about Yang!" Weiss shouted. "Think about your father! Think about your friends and the people who love you! Blake Belladonna! Jaune Arc! Nora Valkyrie!" Weiss continued shouted. Each name seemed to weaken the woman's struggles, so Weiss continued. "Pyrrha Nikos! Velvet Scarlatina!" Weiss said. The woman's struggles were weaker now, but still present. Weiss squeezed her eyes shut as she held on tight. "Weiss Schnee!" She yelled, drawing on her aura for strength to hold on._ _

__The woman twitched under her as soon as Weiss drew on her aura, surprising Weiss. Why had the woman twitched as soon as Weiss began pulling on her aura? As she held on, Weiss pulled on even more, and the woman responded by twitching again, as if to try to escape from the aura. 'What if she's responding this way because she's a Grimm?' Weiss thought to herself. 'A creature without a soul. But if she's responding to my aura, that must mean she can sense it. And if she can sense it, then that means there is a soul, somewhere in there._ _

__This conclusion drove Weiss to put forth everything she had into drawing even more of her aura, as much of it as she could. She may not have had the aura that someone like Jaune or Nora had, but that wasn't going to stop her from trying. She pulled in more and more, until she couldn't any hold it any longer, and then forced it out of her the same way she had seen Velvet do when she was treating critically injured patients._ _

__Weiss' aura flowed out of her and into the woman, forcing the manifestation of a soul's energy into the darkness that was the Grimm, something that had never been done before as far as Weiss knew. The woman's body soaked up the aura flowing from Weiss endlessly, the same way dry ground absorbs rainwater during a storm. But the problem was that it didn't seem to be doing anything._ _

__The woman's body was spasming now, and she was screaming in pain. Weiss continued pouring her aura into the woman without any results except for the pain and screaming, and she was slowly losing hope. This went on for many minutes, slowing draining Weiss' willpower to continue to doing something that was obviously painful for this woman, who was screaming nearly constantly. Just when she was about to abandon this idea and try something else, she felt a flicker. Weiss' eyes opened in surprise. She felt something. A flicker of energy from inside of the woman. With renewed vigor, Weiss forced even more of her aura into the woman, and was rewarded with another flicker of energy, then another. Weiss continued this despite feeling a weakness coming on, and then the flicker she had felt inside the woman suddenly began maintaining itself, no longer flickering in and out of existence, but pulsing with a life of its own._ _

__Just as the spark of energy, of a soul, began maintaining itself, the woman had suddenly stopped her screaming and spasming and instead fell limp in Weiss arms. Weiss let go in a panic, turning the woman over so she was lying face up on the ground. Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing shallowly, her chest barely rising with each breath. Weiss lowered her head to the woman's chest to listen for a heartbeat, and was rewarded by a steady, if slightly weaker than she would've liked, thumping in the woman's chest._ _

__"Ruby?" Weiss asked, gently shaking the woman's shoulders with one hand and placing the other hand on the woman's cheek. "Ruby?" The woman's eyes flickered halfway open, still glowing red, to Weiss' horror. But the horror was short lived as the red glow was fading away, and the woman's eyes closed again. "Wake up, Ruby!" Weiss yelled._ _

__The woman's eyes slowly partially opened again, and this time Weiss was greeted by the beautiful silver irises from her memories. "Ruby!" Weiss exclaimed in relief, pulling Ruby into a tight hug. "You're okay!" Weiss could feel tears leaking from the corners of her eyes as she pulled back. "Can you talk to me? Are you feeling okay?"_ _

__Ruby managed to open her eyes all the way, squinting slightly in the afternoon sunlight. Now that her eyes were finally opened, Weiss noticed that there were scattered flecks of red in Ruby's otherwise silver irises. She didn't have time to ponder why or form an opinion though, because Ruby had begun talking. "Water." Ruby said in a dry, raspy voice._ _

__"Water. Got it." Weiss nodded, pulling her canteen off of her belt and unscrewing the lid before gently dropping some water into Ruby's waiting mouth. Ruby got too greedy and tried to swallow too much too quickly, causing her to choke slightly as a few drops of the water got into her airway. "Slowly!" Weiss warned, pulling the water away. When Ruby stopped coughing, Weiss brought the canteen back to her lips to give her some more._ _

__When Ruby had finally had her fill, she looked back up at Weiss. "Hey there." Ruby whispered, grinning. The smile looked weak and frail, as if Ruby had lost much of her strength, but Weiss couldn't have been happier to see it._ _

__"Don't you 'hey there' me!" Weiss scolded with a smile. She pulled Ruby into another hug, which Ruby returned from her position on the ground. "I can't believe I've finally found you."_ _

__"How long have I been gone?" Ruby asked softly, her voice still unable to speak normally._ _

__"Gone?" Weiss asked, confused at the word choice. "It's been almost two years since Beacon was attacked, if that's what you mean."_ _

__"Yeah." Ruby nodded. "It didn't feel like that long."_ _

__"We can talk later, okay? Right now I need to get you back home so you can be taken care of." Weiss said, moving to lift Ruby into a sitting position so she could stand up._ _

__"Home?" Ruby asked, allowing herself to be lifted up to a standing position with her arm around Weiss' shoulder._ _

__"Yes. Vale." Weiss said, looking up at Ruby. The top of Weiss' head only came up to Ruby's chin now, whereas before she came up to Ruby's eyes. "We're in Vacuo right now."_ _

__"Did you get shorter, Weiss?" Ruby asked in her raspy whisper, tilting her head questioningly._ _

__"No, you got taller. Again." Weiss grumbled. "Are you ready to-"_ _

__Suddenly the water erupted in front of them, the gargantuan Grimm that Ruby had ridden earlier breaching the surface and stepping out of the water towards Weiss and Ruby. Now that Weiss was up close, she definitely was of the opinion that while it was intimidating from far away, up close it was downright terrifying. Weiss was barely taller than one of its clawed toes. It bent over in front of Weiss and Ruby, lowering its head so it was directly in front of them as it began growling softly. 'Softly' was a relative term, however, as the pool of water it emerged from rippled slightly from the sound waves._ _

__Weiss pulled Ruby behind her and drew Myrtenaster into a ready position, trying desperately not to think about how it's head was so big that her head could easily fit inside one of its nostrils. "Ruby, get away, I'll distract it!"_ _

__"Weiss, what are you doing?" Ruby said softly, her voice finally beginning to regain some of the health it had before she started screaming her voice out. She reached out and gently placed a hand on Weiss' shoulder._ _

__"I thought…" Weiss lowered her weapon. "I thought it was going to attack us."_ _

__Ruby chuckled softly. "The Tyrant won't attack us. I woke him up so he could carry us. I don't have the strength to walk." Ruby said. Almost as if to emphasize her point, Ruby began swaying on her feet as she started to lose her balance without Weiss to support her._ _

__Weiss rushed over to catch Ruby. "Carry us?" Weiss asked, flabbergasted. "How… but you aren't like…that… anymore."_ _

__Ruby shrugged. "I still want a ride." She reached out and gently stroked a hand down the Grimm, which Ruby had called a Tyrant, running her hand over its nose. The Tyrant straightened up as its tail snaked in from the side, circling around Ruby and lifting her up into the air._ _

__"Hey! What are you doing!" Weiss yelled up at Ruby._ _

__"He'll get you in a second." Ruby called down softly. As soon as the Tyrant had placed Ruby down on top of its head, the tail snaked back down and wrapped around Weiss' waist with surprising gentleness and lifted her up into its head, setting her down beside Ruby._ _

__"Is this safe?" Weiss asked nervously as she sat down next to Ruby._ _

__"Pretty safe." Ruby said before falling sideway onto Weiss' lap. "Do you have a vehicle?"_ _

__"At the edge of the forest, the same way you came in." Weiss answered. "Why?"_ _

__"Because we shouldn't ride him back to Vale, and I'm getting really sleepy again." Ruby yawned as the Tyrant began slowly walking in the direction it had entered the forest from. "Wake me up when we're at your car, okay?"_ _

__"What do you mean you're…" Weiss trailed off in absolute disbelief as she saw that Ruby was already asleep, snoozing contentedly in Weiss' lap. Weiss smiled affectionately, stroking Ruby's hair."You dolt."__


	24. Epilogue

Weiss stepped out of the bathroom in a white, silken bathrobe as she toweled her hair dry. She donned a pair of slippers to keep her feet off of the chilly hardwood floor and approached the room's king sized bed, which was smothered in what Weiss thought was an excessively generous number of fluffy white pillows and a mountain of the softest and warmest blankets that money could buy. The number of different colored blankets gave off the appearance that someone had place collapsed circus tent on her bed, which made the heiress chuckle. Weiss walked over to the bed as she wrapped the towel around her hair and head and began pulling the piles of blankets and pillows off and playfully called for the occupant. "Ruby, I told you to wake up an hour ago. Come on, Sleepy."

Weiss could hear a groaning protest from under a few more layers of blankets and some pillows off to her right, so she redirected her efforts at clearing the bed to that location. When she finally finished peeling away all the blankets, Weiss was rewarded with the sight a nearly nude Ruby Rose, clothed only in a thin cashmere blanket she had wrapped around herself. Ruby squinted at the sudden light as she curled up and blindly groped for another blanket, once again groaning her discontent with the bright morning sun and the accompanying morning chill. "Weiss," Ruby complained, her long hair fanned out above her head. "Can't we sleep in a bit?" Ruby gave up on her search for another blanket and settled for cocooning herself in the one cashmere blanket she had retained.

"We went to bed almost twelve hours ago, Ruby." Weiss said as she started the process of unwrapping Ruby from her blanket cocoon. "We've had enough rest for one night."

Ruby spilled out onto the bed, revealing her bare body to both Weiss and the chilly air as Weiss finally succeeded in removing the blanket from Ruby. Without the blankets or clothes to cover up Ruby's body, Weiss could see the terrible scars Ruby had accrued since her disappearance. There was a set of deep claw marks just under her ribs on the left side, which Ruby had said happened soon after she had run away from the camp years ago, and had nearly killed her. There was a deep puncture mark on the right side of her chest just under her collar bone, and a small depression in her leg where something had taken a bite out of her, not to mention the numerous other, less severe scars.

And yet despite these deformities to her skin and her sleepiness, Ruby still managed to look up at Weiss with a look that made her heart skip a beat. "Except we didn't exactly sleep very much." Ruby said with a wolfish grin.

Weiss' face flushed red as Ruby looked up at her with the look of a satisfied predator. "A-anyways. You still have to wake up." Weiss tried to look away to cover her embarrassment at Ruby's unsubtle reference to the previous night. "We have to go shopping for dresses and a gift for Jaune and Pyrrha's wedding." Weiss leaned over the bed to lift Ruby up and drag her to the shower if necessary, but Ruby had other plans.

While Weiss was leaned over her, Ruby reached up and wrapped one arm around the back of Weiss' neck while she snaked the other and Weiss' arm and across her back. Before Weiss could react and pull away, Ruby rolled away from Weiss, pulling the heiress with her onto the bed and rolling again so that Ruby was straddling Weiss in the center of the large bed. Ruby leaned in close, her long hair cascading around them. "Can't we wait until later?"

Weiss gulped audibly as she fought off the urge to give in to Ruby's suggestion. Looking into to Ruby's silver eyes and the red flecks scattered throughout them, the normally composed heiress was having a hard time maintaining said composure. Weiss gasped as Ruby placed a finger on the center of Weiss' neck and slowly began dragging her finger down Weiss' midline. Ruby's finger didn't slow down as it caught on the loosely closed bathrobe, teasingly opening it so she could access the woman underneath. It was at this point Weiss managed to summon the willpower to swipe away the arm Ruby was using to support her upper body, causing Ruby to lose her balance. Weiss took the opportunity to grab Ruby and roll on top of her, then jumping off the bed before Ruby could retaliate.

Weiss straightened her bathrobe as she looked back down at Ruby, who had resigned herself to just lying on her back and grinning at Weiss. "I won't let you change our plans again." Weiss huffed. "We need to go grab these things before the wedding this weekend."

Ruby rolled off the bed and landed on her feet before straightening up and stretching her arms above her head. "They don't even know you're back in Vale, and you didn't even RSVP. It's rude to crash a wedding, you know." Weiss' expression didn't change, so Ruby tried a different tactic. "I don't need to go dress shopping anyways, you know that." Ruby said. As she brought her hands down from above her, she ran them down the contours of her body. The air around Ruby seemed to darken, as if sunlight was having a harder time piercing the air near her. Then particles of darkness began forming in the air near Ruby, migrating to her body and spreading across her skin. The darkness spread and grew, covering more and more of Ruby's body. Within seconds, the darkness solidified into a beautiful black dress that hugged Ruby's body and would not have been out of place at any high class social function. "See? Dress made."

Even though Ruby had done this every day since they returned from Vacuo, it still unnerved Weiss that Ruby still had some remnants of the abilities she had as a Grimm. Making temporary clothes out of nothing was one of the abilities Weiss was beginning to grow accustomed to, but the others ones, such as Ruby's inhuman strength and ability to communicate with Grimm, were still ones that Weiss had not seen enough to grow used to. Weiss was both accustomed to and unimpressed with Ruby creating close though, and just raised an eyebrow. "You're not wearing a black dress made of darkness and shadows to the wedding of a huntsman and a huntress."

Ruby pouted and whined. "Awwww."

Weiss just pointed to the bathroom. "Go get cleaned up."

"Ugh, fine." Ruby let the dress disappear into nothing as she swaggered to the bathroom in the nude, and once again Weiss couldn't help but notice that the scars on Ruby's body did nothing to detract from her beauty. The scarred woman looked back over her shoulder at Weiss. "Care to join me?"

Weiss huffed and looked away. "I already cleaned up. You can shower by yourself today." Ruby just laughed and entered the bathroom, turning the shower on as hot as it would go.

The heiress just sighed as she removed the towel that was wrapped around her hair while she moved to look out the window into the snowy landscape below. As she watch the falling snow dance past the window and down the mountainside below them, she thought back to the day she had found Ruby in the forest, far inside Vacuo.

 

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The Tyrant's ground shaking footsteps finally began to slow to a halt after a couple hours of it walking through the forest with Weiss and a sleeping Ruby on its head. Weiss could see the military humvee she had commandeered parked under some trees and hidden under some branches she had piled on top of it. She could also see from the height she was at that she didn't do as good a job hiding it as she thought she had, but fortunately it appeared that no one or thing had come to investigate it.

Weiss gently shook Ruby's shoulder and patted her cheek. "Hey, time to wake up now, we're here."

Ruby's eye's fluttered open to look up at Weiss. "Already?" Ruby yawned from her spot on Weiss' lap.

"Yes. You're little pet here takes pretty large steps." Weiss said as she helped lift Ruby up to a sitting position. The Tyrant stopped walking and stayed still so that they would have better footing for when they stood up.

"That's true." Ruby agreed with a grin.

"You're going to have to explain what happened to you." Weiss continued as she placed Ruby's arm around her shoulder and stood, bringing them both to their feet. "Why you didn't have an aura, why you looked like a Grimm, why it looked like you could order them around, why-"

"One question at a time, please." Ruby coughed. "My head's still a little fuzzy." Ruby glanced behind them. "Could you grab that for me?"

Weiss looked over her shoulder as the pair turned and saw that the Tyrant's tail was right behind them, curled around a dangling Crescent Rose. Weiss reached out and accepted the dangling weapon from the tail, taking the weapon in one hand and hooking it on to her belt beside Myrtenaster. "I had forgotten about that." Weiss admitted.

"I almost did, too." Ruby agreed. "The Tyrant grabbed it for me though." Ruby looked at the tail again. "Don't let go of me."

"What?" Was all managed to get out before the Tyrant's tail curled around both of the girls at once, squeezing them close together and lifting them into the air. "Hey! Some more warning would be nice!" Weiss complained as she instinctively pulled Ruby closer. The Tyrant wasn't squeezing them particularly tightly, but the surprise in addition to the amount of Ruby's body touching Weiss' was causing her to blush.

Ruby looked down at her shorter companion as the Tyrant lowered them to the ground, and saw the reaction on Weiss' face. This expression of bashful innocence, and the fact the Weiss actually jumped into Grimm infested territory alone to find her, convinced Ruby that Weiss' feeling for her were still present and strong after all this time. So Ruby did the first thing that came to mind and leaned her head over and planted a kiss on Weiss's lips while they were still squeezed together. Weiss was stunned into silence as Ruby pulled away.

"I hope that wasn't a bad thing to do." Ruby said with a grin, nervously wondering in the back of her mind if maybe she shouldn't have done that. She had been gone for a long time after all, and there was always the chance that Weiss might have someone else in her life.

"… It wasn't." Weiss stretched her neck up to return Ruby's kiss with a kiss of her own, but found she was too short to reach Ruby's lips without Ruby leaning over or being able to stand on the tips of her toes. "Dammit." Weiss grumbled as the Tyrant set them on the ground. "This is what happens when you get too tall." Weiss complained.

"Sorry." Ruby chuckled as she leaned heavily against Weiss. "I need to sit down."

Weiss helped Ruby over to the back seat of the humvee so Ruby could lie down in the back seat. "You just slept for three hours, how are you still tired?" Weiss said as she eased Ruby down onto the seat.

"I feel really weak." Ruby explained. "I haven't had anything to eat or drink in over a year."

Weiss thought that bit of news was unexpected, but not surprising after she gave it a bit of thought. "I have supplies in the trunk, I'll bring you some food."

"Bring all of the food, please." Ruby smiled.

"Got it." Weiss said as she turned away from Ruby, rolling her eyes. "Ah!" Weiss yelled, startled. The Tyrant had lowered its head to look into the humvee at Ruby, and its head was positioned only a few feet behind Weiss. "You're terrifying." Weiss said as she glowered at the Tyrant. "Back up." The Tyrant just blinked at her. "Ruby, a little help?"

Ruby leaned out of the humvee to look at the Tyrant. "Thanks for your help. I'll be fine here. Go keep an eye on the others." Ruby's voice darkened a little. "Make sure none of them leave this place, okay?" The Grimm growled, but it didn't sound menacing to Weiss this time. It sounded more like a contented purr, if that was even possible. Then it stood up to its full height, turned away from them, and lumbered back into the forest.

Weiss watched it leave for a few moments before she turned back to Ruby, still having trouble comprehending how Ruby was doing such a thing such as talking to and controlling the Grimm. "What did you mean when you told it make sure none of 'them' left?"

"I remember while I was a Grimm I was so focused on Vacuo." Ruby said softly. "I meant to only attack their army, I really did." Ruby looked downtrodden. "I wasn't in control most of the time, though. I made the big decisions most of the time, but a different part of me was in control. I ended up attacking the whole kingdom. The least I can do is make sure none of them ever leave Vacuo and attack the rest of the world." Ruby finished, saddened.

"If it's any consolation, our army managed to evacuate almost all of the people." Weiss assured as she brought the large bags of food to Ruby's spot in the back seat. "How did you become a Grimm anyways?"

"I'm not sure, exactly. I remember getting badly hurt and then thinking to myself that I needed to be stronger, and how Grimm were really strong. Then I thought: 'If a Grim was a soulless creature, would it be possible to remove a soul?'" Ruby said, gesturing in the air before her. "I don't remember what happened next, but after that I only got glimpses of what I was doing until today. Like I was watching someone else who only had a general idea of what I wanted to do carry out my wishes."

"Well, don't think about too much." Weiss said. "I still don't really understand, but what's done is done and I'm sure we can find more answers another time, after you get better and regain some of your strength." Weiss set the last of the bottles of water in the back seat.

Ruby tore open a bag of potato chips and began wolfing them down. She nearly finished the bag before she looked again and saw Weiss looking down at Ruby with brows furrowed in thought. "Sumfing wrong?" Ruby asked around a mouthful of chips, somehow managing to give off the appearance of a young girl again despite her womanly body.

"I don't think you can go meet everyone again. Not so soon, anyways." Weiss said.

Ruby swallowed the chips before responding. "Why not? Should I write an apology or something?"

"That's not it." Weiss said. "Well, not all of it. Your… circumstances… won't be understood, and so you'll be captured and tested at best, or imprisoned or executed at worst. And I'm not going to let that happen." Weiss explained. "And there's still the chance that you may be arrested for killing team CRDL if people find out who you are. " Weiss tapped her chin in thought. "Actually, I think official records state that you're dead. Can you charge a dead person with a crime?"

"I didn't kill them." Ruby said as she dug into a bag of jerky. "I only kidnapped them and left them in a not-so-safe place. Grimm killed them. Ask Nora, she helped me."

Weiss froze in the process of closing the door, and looked at the ground. "Nora didn't make it." Weiss said softly. "She died last week, just before the war ended."

Ruby's hand froze just in front of her mouth, a piece of jerky hovering just in front of her lips. "I didn't think anything could actually kill Nora." Ruby sighed.

"She sacrificed herself so the rest of us could escape." Weiss elaborated. "And… Blake died too. At about the same time."

Ruby's hand fell back into her lap. "So we're all that's left?" Ruby looked quite downtrodden, but her reaction was far more muted than Weiss feared it could've been.

Weiss shook her head. She closed the door of the humvee and got into the driver's seat, elaborating as she began driving away and back towards Vale. "No. There's still Jaune and Pyrrha, and Velvet. A few other students from Beacon too. Oh, your father teaches at Beacon now."

"Can I at least see my dad?" Ruby asked, looking up into the rear view mirror at Weiss hopefully.

"I don't think so." Weiss answered and the humvee bounced along over the grass. "I don't think he would be able to hide his feelings about finding you alive again, and people may suspect."

"What about you?" Ruby said as she placed a small piece of jerky in her mouth, nearly swallowing it whole. "Won't people start looking for you if you don't come back?"

"I left orders that no one was to bother searching for me." Weiss said. "So that shouldn't be a problem."

"Orders?"

"I was the Lord General of our army."

"Whoa." Ruby exclaimed. "Okay, you've got to tell me what I missed."

Weiss just smiled. "Of course." So Weiss told Ruby about everything that had happened. She told Ruby about going to the fortress for training and the hunters that trained them, as well as their training. She talked about how they joined the war, and the people Weiss met and the battles they fought. Ruby listened with rapt attention, curious to learn about the human world that she hadn't seen in so long. Weiss answered all the questions Ruby had, and Ruby asked questions while she proceeded to eat and drink nearly her half her weight in foodstuffs. And all the while, Weiss was making plans on how to keep Ruby out of the public eye until she could figure out a way to reintroduce her without risking losing her again. She knew a place that no one would look for them, and figured she could start there.

 

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It had been a month since that day when Weiss and Ruby had arrived at this secluded, isolated, and large mountain condo that Weiss owned. There were only a few people in the world that knew Weiss and Ruby were here, not including the girls themselves. The first was the private doctor that was had hired to look after the weakened Ruby the first week, whom Weiss had paid well to ask no questions and to keep his silence. The only others that knew of Weiss and Ruby's presence here were the live in maid and butler, who served Weiss and would tell no one anyway.

Weiss was confident that no one would ever come looking for her here because the only people that had ever visited this place were Weiss and her mother, before her mother left. And once her mother left, Weiss inherited the place and no one except the cleaning staff had ever returned to it. She had chosen to hide away here rather than return to those who had known her in Vale because she feared that they would take Ruby away, out of either justifiable fear or scientific curiosity. Ruby was, as far as Weiss could tell from her research, a unique being.

The tests that the doctor had performed to judge Ruby's health while she was recovering had shown them that it was entirely likely that Ruby wasn't completely human anymore. She healed at an incredible rate without the use of aura, her muscle density was off the charts of what a human should be capable of, her senses were far more sensitive than a human's, and her eyes glowed red when she got too excited. In a way, the eyes reminded Weiss of Yang's red eyes, though Ruby's glowed red rather than just changing color.

Finished with her reminiscing, Weiss turned away from the window and the falling snow and turned on the television to listen to while she got dressed. She pulled open the wardrobe, which filled almost entirely with Weiss' clothes since Ruby preferred to create her own clothes out of nothing for convenience. Weiss dropped her bathrobe to the ground as she selected her undergarments and a simply designed white, flowing sundress, which she completed with a straw colored sun hat to minimize the chances that anyone would recognize her. The outfit looked out of place in their snowy surroundings, but her butler would be driving them down the mountain road and back to Vale, where it was warmer, for their shopping. Weiss heard the footsteps of Ruby exiting the bathroom as pulled on a pair of silver, open toed, ankle strapped sandals.

Weiss glanced over to see Ruby rubbing her long hair dry with a towel as she exited the bathroom without a bathrobe or towel around her, grumbling about how long it took to dry her hair. "Are you thinking about cutting your hair?" Weiss asked, remembering Ruby's short hair from before and mentally comparing it to the hair she had now, which came down to just above her waist, except for the bangs that Weiss maintained herself so Ruby's hair wouldn't get in her face.

"Do you think I should?" Ruby asked as she picked at her hair. "Long hair is kind of a hassle now that I have to actually take care of it."

Weiss shuffled her feet as she looked at Ruby's hair. "… I kinda like your hair long." Weiss mumbled, twirling her own hair.

Ruby laughed at Weiss' embarrassed act. "I guess I'll keep it long then." Ruby looked down at Weiss' outfit. "Very pretty." She complimented, eliciting a smile and a light blush from Weiss. Ruby lifted her arms out to her side as more particles of darkness formed around her again, growing to form a dress that mirrored Weiss' in design. While Weiss' dress was white and came down to her knees, Ruby's was black and ended at her calves. Ruby had also formed a black sun hat as well, making her look fairly sophisticated. "How do I look?" She asked as she twirled in front of Weiss, some of her childish playfulness sneaking out.

"Like you forgot footwear." Weiss chuckled.

Ruby looked down at her bare feet. "Oh." She lifted each foot individually to add on sandals that matched the one's Weiss had on. "Better?"

"Better." Weiss said with a smile and nod. Weiss pulled out her scroll and called her butler, telling him to bring a car around to take them to a shopping district in Vale. "Are you sure you're okay with seeing other people again?" Weiss asked Ruby with some concern.

"I think I should be fine." Ruby said, just a little nervous. Except for Weiss, the doctor, the butler, and the maid, Ruby had not had any contact with humans for a very long time and wasn't sure how she might react in a crowd of them. The two girls hadn't even left Weiss' mountain condo most days, and when they did it was usually only for a walk on the mountain the condo resided on, far away from other people. "As long as we don't get separated."

Weiss entwined her fingers in Ruby's as she led her out of the room to the front door, where their butler would be waiting with the car. "No need to worry about that." Weiss assured Ruby. "I don't think I'll let us get separated ever again." Ruby smiled as she pulled Weiss into a hug and kissed her. Weiss allowed the kiss to go on for a few seconds before pulling away. "Your clothes may never get wrinkled, but mine do." Weiss scolded jokingly, smoothing out her dress and straitening her hat. "So no funny business."

"I'll just wait until you undress tonight then." Ruby answered nonchalantly.

Weiss stumbled in surprise at Ruby's frankness before straightening and glaring at Ruby. "You better not talk like that out in public." Weiss growled.

Ruby just grinned. "So, you never told me why you aren't reserving a spot at the wedding for us, rather than just showing up. They went through the trouble of sending an invitation to your scroll, even though they don't know where you are or if we're even alive." She asked as they exited the house.

"Same reason I didn't want you to meet your father." Weiss said. "I didn't think they would be able to keep it quiet."

"Okay, but is their wedding really the best spot to bring me back from the dead? I don't want to take away from their moment, you know?" Ruby asked again as they stepped into the black car the butler had brought around.

"I'm not going to announce you to the world." Weiss answered as she slid on to the seat next to Ruby. "We'll keep out of the way and hidden, then speak to them afterwards."

"And then I can go visit my father? And pay my respects to our friends' graves?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah." Weiss said, removing her hat and laying her head on Ruby's shoulder. "Sorry for keeping you away for so long."

"I can't really complain, since you didn't all to keep me safe." Ruby smiled.

"Yeah." Weiss agreed, closing her eyes with a contented smile as their butler began driving them down the mountain. "Let's finish shopping quickly so we can go home."

 

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"I really like Pyrrha's dress." Ruby whispered to from the back of the ceremony hall. Weiss and Ruby were keeping out of sight and to themselves at the wedding, a week after they had gone shopping for their dresses and a gift. Weiss had purchased a sky blue gown that had sapphire colored swirls stitched in on the trim at Ruby's recommendation, while Ruby had let Weiss pick out a dress for her- a rose red dress with faint brown stitching that looked like abstractly designed branches, which Ruby thought made her look like some sort of weird plant. But Weiss had insisted it looked great, so she went with it.

"It looks expensive." Weiss agreed in a whisper. "I think those are diamonds on the neckline." Though Weiss and Ruby were whispering, they did so only out of respect for anyone who might be close enough to hear them, because there were so many people at this wedding that Ruby and Weiss were sure that they could talk at a normal volume from their spot at the back and no one in the front half of the ceremony hall would hear that they were talking. Weiss was also pleasantly surprised to see Velvet acting as Pyrrha's maid of honor, and glad that Velvet appeared to have come out of the depression she had fallen into with Blake's death. Weiss also took notice of Ozpin, who she made sure to steer clear of. They could also see the reformed thief Sun Wukong in the crowd, which worried Weiss because she feared that might mean Tamamo and her hunters may be here. And if they were, Vimentis might sense them, and might even identify Ruby as something not human. There had been no incident so far though, so Weiss kept up hopes it would remain that way.

"Do you think Jaune got to pick out his own tuxedo, or Pyrrha picked it for him?" Ruby asked. Both girls looked at each other, and Weiss just had a 'really?' look on her face. "Yeah, you're right." Ruby said. "She definitely picked it out for Jaune. Looks to good for him to have picked it himself."

Weiss just grinned as they went back to watching the wedding in silence. They were too far back to hear what was being said at the front, but they cheered along with everyone else nonetheless when the newly married couple kissed and began walking down the aisle. Ruby and Weiss stood and quietly clapped as Jaune and Pyrrha walked down the very long aisle, getting ever closer them. As they approached the halfway mark, Jaune reached down and swept Pyrrha into his arms, lifting her up into a bridal carry as he continued down the aisle. Pyrrha was looking into Jaune's eyes lovingly as he did the same, lost in their own little world.

Ruby leaned over to speak into Weiss' ear so she could be heard over the cheering. "Should we leave or step away before they get to us?" Weiss pondered the question only for a moment before shaking her head. Weiss was confident that the couple wouldn't stop and make a scene if they saw them, and Ruby trusted Weiss' judgment.

Only a few seconds later, Jaune and Pyrrha neared the pair of girls, still lost in each others' eyes. Weiss and Ruby thought for a second that the pair would stroll right on by without noticing them, but by chance Pyrrha looked away from Jaune just for a second to look at the owners of the unfamiliar dresses she had seen out of the corner of her eye. Her eyes widened as they noticed Weiss standing there, a friend whom Pyrrha had not seen or heard from in over a month. Pyrrha was about to call out from her spot in Jaune arms, but Weiss placed a finger in front of her mouth in the universal 'shhh' gesture. Pyrrha understood and didn't say anything or make a scene, but then glanced behind Weiss and saw a vaguely familiar woman who she immediately recognized as Ruby Rose smiling back at her. Pyrrha was once again shushed by Weiss as Jaune continued past the two girls obliviously.

As Jaune continued down the steps to his and Pyrrha's waiting honeymoon limousine, Pyrrha stretched her head to peer over Jaune's shoulder at the two girls, still astonished and stunned to see them alive and well. Weiss and Ruby waved at Pyrrha as Jaune set her in the car and closed the door before he hopped with her. Just before their driver could take them away though, Pyrrha must have said something to Jaune about Weiss and Ruby because he whipped around in his seat to look out the window at them, the expression on his face even more shocked and surprised than Pyrrha's was. And then before they could exit the car or do anything about their newly revived friends, their limousine drove them away.

"That went well." Ruby said.

"I'm sure we'll have a lot of explaining to do when they get back, but at least they know we're alive now." Weiss agreed. "Shall we go and see your father now?"

"Yeah." Ruby looked back into the ceremony hall and all the people shuffling around inside it. "Why don't we reintroduce me to some of our old friends first?"

"You sure?" Weiss asked, linking her arm with Ruby's.

"Yeah." Ruby smiled at her lover. "It wouldn't be fair to them to only let Jaune and Pyrrha know."

Weiss couldn't help but smile at Ruby's logic. "All right. Let's go bring you back from the dead then."

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Well, even I think that was a little better than the previous chapter, in terms of an ending. I certainly hope you all think so as well.

Now that this story is over, I plan on expanding on this little AU I've created based on some requests I've gotten. I want to start another story that will be more of a collection of short stories, mostly one-shots, that kind of look at different people at different times in the world I took my story in. Pre-war, during-war, post-war, etc. I say this to let you know that I will be taking requests to write about certain characters or times if you wish and I feel I will be able to write it.

Once again, thank you all for your support and I hope you enjoyed my first story!

**Author's Note:**

> As always, reviews, feedback, and constructive criticism is always appreciated.


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